LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


GIFT    OF 


C/flSS 


A   PATHFINDER 

DISCOVERY,  INVENTION 
AND   INDUSTRY 


--  G  t*ll,*-a   3  Br 


(5 

A  PATHFINDER 

DISCOVERY,  INVENTION  AND  INDUSTRY 


HOW  THE  WORLD  CAME  TO   HAVE  AQUADAG 

AND    OILDAG;    ALSO,   CARBORUNDUM, 

ARTIFICIAL  GRAPHITE  AND  OTHER 

VALUABLE  PRODUCTS  OP  THE 

ELECTRIC    FURNACE 


THE  FIRST  OP  A  SERIES, OP  EDUCATIONAL 

BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  OP 

EMINENT  INVENTORS 


PUBLISHED  BY 

THB    PRESS  SCRAP   BOOK 

208  BROAD  WAT,  NBW  YORK 

1010 


TP140 


PREFACE 

The  subject  of  this  work  has  for  a  number  of 
years  had  in  process  of  preparation  a  history  of 
his  life  and  work.  It  has  not  >been  his  intention 
to  publish  it,  his  sole  purpose  being  to  record 
the  events  of  his  life  for  the  benefit  of  his  family 
and  friends.  Recently  he  permitted  the  pub- 
lishers to  read  this  autobiographical  sketch,  and 
in  view  of  the  prominence  he  has  attained,  we 
urged  him  to  give,  to  the  youth  and  young  men 
of  the  country,  this  life-story,  and  with  much 
hesitation  he  finally  assented  to  such  publica- 
tion, and  we  here  give  it  in  his  own  words,  with 
the  belief  that  it  may  prove  of  very  material 
benefit  to  many  of  the  young  men  of  the  world, 
relating,  as  it  does,  his  boyhood  inspirations, 
struggles  as  a  young  man,  contentions  against 
many  vicissitudes,  his  persistent  dedication  of 
himself  to  a  fixed  purpose,  his  final  triumphs, 
and  the  acceptance  of  the  results  he  has  attained 
by  the  scientific  and  industrial  world. 

THE  PUBLISHERS 


200345 


DEDICATION 

To  Ambitious  Youth  everywhere,  particu- 
larly those  who  need  a  realization  of  their  own 
mental  and  physical  ability,  as  well  as  a  proper 
conception  of  the  world's  appreciation  of  ac- 
complishment, to  inspire  them  to  their  greatest 
efforts  to  win  success,  this  modest  work  is  dedi- 
cated. Should  it  be  the  inspiration  that  arouses 
one  life  and  awakens  it  to  its  own  possibilities 
guiding  one  to  devote  his  life  and  efforts  as  a 
leader  in  the  world's  work,  the  object  of  its 
publication  will  have  been  effected. 


INDEX 

Preface 
Dedication 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I    The  World's  Recognition     .     .     .     .     .    ,.  15 

II     Dr.  Acheson's  Ancestors       ....     .  \.  23 

III  Dr.  Acheson's  Story;  Birth  to  Sixteen  Years 

of  Age 26 

IV  Sixteenth  to  Twenty-second  Year     ...  31 
V    Twenty-second  to  Twenty-fourth  ]  Year      .  41 

VI     At  Menlo  Park 54 

VII    In  Europe 69 

VIII     Twenty-eighth  to  Thirty-fifth  Year  ...  83 

IX     Discovery  and  Development  of  Carborundum  97 

X     Graphite 116 

XI  Egyptianized  Clay;  Direct  Reduction  of 
Aluminum  and  Silicon;  Production  of 
Siloxicon,  Lubricating  Graphite,  Aqua- 
dag  and  Oildag  .....  V  .  .  123 

XII     Societies  and  Clubs      .     .     .    V    .     .     .  ;  t  131 

XIII  Papers  Written  and  Read    .     .   VvVV.>  133 

XIV  Honors  Conferred    .     .     .     /;     .     .          .  135 
XV     Conclusion  137 


0, 
UNIVERSITY 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  WORLD'S  RECOGNITION 

There's  a  divinity  that  shapes  our  ends, 
rough-hew  them  how  we  will. — Shakespeare. 

IT  requires  a  most  thorough  knowledge  and 
careful  study  of  the  lives  of  men,  who  have 
become  eminent  in  various  fields,  to  realize 
fully  the  force  and  truth  of  the  above  quotation. 
Could  we  but  know  the  heart-secrets  of  men 
who  have  won  renown  for  great  works,  we  would 
learn  that  moving  them  irresistibly  toward 
higher  things  was  a  prompting  to  which  their 
inspiration  responded.  There  is  a  wealth  of 
enlightenment  and  education  in  reviewing  such 
lives,  and  the  presentation  of  the  Perkin  Medal 
to  Dr.  Edward  Goodrich  Acheson  on  January 
aist,  1910,  has  brought  into  new  prominence 
an  inventor  whose  life  work  and  achievements 
make  a  fascinating  story.  Twice  has  his 
scientific  research  won  for  him  the  John  Scott 
Medal,  presented  by  the  Franklin  Institute  of 


Philadelphia.  The  American  Academy  of  Arts 
and  Sciences  has  also  awarded  him  the  famous 
Rumford  Medals.  An  additional  great  honor 
came  to  him  when  the  University  of  Pittsburg 
recognized  his  work  by  conferring  upon  him  the 
Degree  of  Doctor  of  Science.  The  award  and 
presentation  of  the  Perkin  Medal  came  as  a 
tribute  of  appreciation  from  fellow -chemists 
and  electro-chemists  of  the  United  States,  who 
thus  frankly  and  generously  recognized  his 
position  in  the  field  in  which  he  has  so  success- 
fully labored. 

The  Perkin  Medal  was  first  presented  to  the 
noted  English  scientist,  Sir  William  H.  Perkin, 
in  recognition  of  his  services  to  art  and  industry 
in  developing  the  uses  of  coal  tar,  for  which  he 
was  also  knighted  by  King  Edward  VII.  It  is  a 
gold  decoration  given  now  yearly  to  the  Ameri- 
can Scientist  who  has  accomplished  the  most 
valuable  work  in  applied  chemistry,  and  its 
presentation  to  Dr.  Edward  Goodrich  Acheson 
by  the  unanimous  vote  of  committees  represent- 
ing the  Society  of  Chemical  Industry,  the 
American  Chemical  Society  and  the  American 

16 


Electro-Chemical  Society,  showed  marked 
acknowledgment  and  appreciation  of  the  fact 
that  Dr.  Acheson  ranks  with  the  eminent  of  his 
profession,  in  the  application  of  his  talents  and 
his  energy  and  industry  to  the  betterment  of 
mankind,  the  advancement  of  science,  and  the 
improvement  of  the  conditions  under  which  we 
live. 

The  session  of  the  Society  of  Chemical  Indus- 
try, at  which  the  presentation  was  made,  was 
presided  over  by  Maximilian  Toch,  Chairman  of 
the  New  York  section  of  the  Society,  and  Pro- 
fessor C.  F.  Chandler,  of  Columbia  University, 
made  the  presentation  in  the  presence  of  about 
one  hundred  members  and  guests.  Professor 
Chandler,  speaking  as  a  Past  President  of  the 
Society  of  Chemical  Industry,  in  reviewing 
Dr.  Acheson's  life  work,  said  in  part: 

"Dr.  Acheson  possesses  the  rare  merit  of 
combining  the  inventive,  the  constructive,  and 
the  organizing  faculties.  He  has  been  most 
successful  in  discovering  entirely  new  materials 
suitable  for  a  great  variety  of  purposes,  which 
have  become  indispensable  to  the  world.  He 


has  also  been  able  to  devise  most  perfect 
methods  and  appliances  for  producing  his  new 
products  on  a  large  scale,  and  to  organize  and 
finance  great  companies  to  put  his  inventions 
into  successful  operation. 

"His  efforts  have  not  been  directed  merely 
to  improving  processes  and  products  previously 
known.  He  has  made  entirely  new  departures 
and  created  new  industries,  supplied  previously 
unknown  materials  for  use  in  the  arts  and  indus- 
tries, and  he  has  discovered  uses  for  his  new 
materials  and  processes  for  their  application. 
He  is  a  representative  electro-chemical  engineer, 
and  it  is  eminently  proper  that  he  should  have 
been  selected  by  the  great  chemical  societies 
of  this  country  to  receive  the  Perkin  Medal." 

Dr.  Acheson,  in  accepting  the  Medal,  said: 
"In  the  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
the  world  was  ready  for  another  step  forward 
in  the  chemical  arts.  It  was  ripe  for  the  birth 
of  a  new  industry  until  then  unknown — indus- 
trial electro-chemistry.  The  field  of  research 
and  development  for  the  electro-chemist  will  be 
practically  limitless,  and  will  extend  beyond 

18 


what  the  world  is  now  considering — the  'con- 
servation of  natural  resources' — for  they  will 
create  valuable  products  from  wastes  not  now 
dignified  by  the  title  of  resources." 

With  a  set  of  experimental  apparatus  set 
up  in  the  room,  Dr.  Acheson,  the  discoverer  of 
carborundum  and  artificial  graphite,  demon- 
strated some  of  his  newer  investigations  and 
their  wonderful  results  while  the  learned  and 
distinguished  audience  looked  on  with  deeply 
gratified  interest.  Dr.  Acheson's  discoveries 
of  Oildag  and  Aquadag,  attracted  the  closest 
observation  and  most  earnest  expressions  of 
applause  as  well  as  surprise. 

Dr.  L.  H.  Baekeland,  speaking  as  President 
of  the  American  Electro-Chemical  Society,  said 
in  part : 

"What  is  more  to  the  credit  of  Dr.  Acheson 
than  anything  else,  is  the  fact  that  he  under- 
took experiments  which  probably  had  been 
attempted  several  times  before,  without  suc- 
cess, by  people  who  had  more  theoretical  prep- 
aration than  he.  But  his  unusual  keenness  of 
observation,  his  logical  faculty,  and  more  than 

19 


anything,  his  appreciation  of  what  was  of  pre- 
ponderant importance,  and  of  secondary  inter- 
est, brought  him  results,  where  others  had 
failed,  and  by  which  he  opened  a  new  field  of 
chemical  investigation  and  industrial  applica- 
tions. 

"Dr.  Acheson  stands  as  a  living  example  to 
many  a  chemist,  loaded  with  theoretical  knowl- 
edge and  paper  wisdom,  and  light  in  judgment 
or  common  sense.  He  entered  into  a  new  road 
with  very  little  knowledge  to  guide  him,  but 
he  had  an  open  mind,  a  fertile  brain,  a  con- 
structive faculty,  and  the  talents  of  the  tire- 
less, intelligent  experimenter.  Whatever  he 
took  up  he  started  from  the  beginning,  and 
developed  to  the  end. 

"His  very  failures  were  changed  into  vic- 
tories through  practical  channels.  His  work  on 
carborundum  was  initiated  by  an  experiment 
so  simple  and  so  meagre  in  results,  that  few 
people  would  have  found  an  incentive  to  fur- 
ther investigation.  Later  on,  when  in  the  manu- 
facture of  carborundum,  he  had  to  battle  with 
irregularities,  due  to  a  partial  dissociation  of 

20 


the  silicon  carbide,  he  created  a  new  industry, 
the  manufacture  of  artificial  graphite.  In  the 
same  way,  he  gave  us  Siloxicon,  a  product 
which  seems  to  have  a  considerable  future. 

"In  constructing  the  great  road  of  indus- 
trial progress,  very  few  of  us  are  pathfinders; 
some  are  surveyors,  other  ones  constructors, 
others  again  are  merely  switchmen,  a  brake- 
man  and  conductors.  Dr.  Acheson  not  only 
was  a  pathfinder,  but  he  has  been  a  constructor, 
conductor,  switchnian — everything.  By  his 
manifold  abilities  and  good  judgment,  he  has 
been  able  to  develop  his  discoveries  into  com- 
mercial successes.  He  has  shown  us  that  an 
inventor  or  a  scientist  is  not  necessarily  a 
theoretical  dreamer  unfit  for  executive  or  prac- 
tical work." 

Dr.  Wilder  D.  Bancroft,  of  Cornell  Univer- 
sity, speaking  as  President  of  the  American 
Chemical  Society,  said  in  the  course  of  an  inter- 
esting and  entertaining  address: 

"To  make  carborundum  he  needed  elec- 
trodes, so  he  invented  graphite.  A  suitable 
refractory  was  needed  to  keep  the  heat  in  the 

21 


furnace,  and  Mr.  Acheson  thereupon  prepared 
siloxicon.  The  furnace  had  to  have  brick  walls 
at  first,  and  they  were  promptly  forthcoming  in 
the  form  of  Egyptianized  Clay.  In  order  to 
keep  everything  running  smoothly,  including 
the  three  automobiles  which  he  had  acquired 
in  the  meantime,  Mr.  Acheson  prepared  the 
lubricating  graphite  which  he  has  shown  you 
to-night  as  Aquadag  and  Oildag.  *  *  *  * 
You  may  consider  Mr.  Acheson's  discoveries 
as  scientific  inventions  or  as  dividend  payers. 
It  makes  no  difference.  They  stand  all  tests, 
and  they  mark  him  as  one  of  the  great  invent- 
ors of  the  world/' 


CHAPTER  II 
DR.  ACHESON'S  ANCESTORS 

The  Acheson  family  is  of  ancient  Scottish 
origin,  and  the  name  is  derived  from  a  contrac- 
tion of  the  baptismal  name  of  " Archibald, " 
in  Scottish  abbreviation  " Archie."  It  was 
spelled  in  various  ways  in  the  early  records  of 
Scotland,  appearing  as  Achinson,  Akinsonn, 
Atkinson,  etc.  The  name  first  occurred  in  For- 
farshire,  in  the  east  of  Scotland,  and  can  be 
traced  back  to  about  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth 
century.  At  the  close  of  that  century,  we  find 
the  spelling  of  the  name  definitely  taking  its 
present  form,  first  as  Achesonne,  then  in  the 
course  of  two  generations,  abbreviated  to  Ache- 
son.  We  find  the  Acheson's  intermarried,  about 
1500,  with  the  noble  family  of  Grey,  Alexander 
Achesonne,  who  married  Isobelle  Grey,  having 
been  direct  ancestor  of  the  family  to  which  Dr. 
Edward  Goodrich  Acheson  belongs.  Alexander 
Achesonne  was  also  progenitor  of  the  noble 

23 


family  of  Gosford,  whose  genealogy  is  given  in 
Burke's  Peerage.  The  first  baronet  of  the 
family  was  Sir  Archibald  Acheson,  of  Hadding- 
ton,  North  Britain,  son  of  Captain  Patrick  Ache- 
son,  of  Edinburgh,  and  the  sixth  baronet,  Sir 
Archibald  Acheson,  was  elevated  to  the  peerage 
of  Ireland,  July  2oth,  1776,  as  Baron  Acheson, 
and  was  made  Viscount  Gosford,  of  Market  Hill, 
County  Armagh,  Ireland,  June  2oth,  1785.  The 
fourth  Earl  of  Gosford  has  been  Vice-Chamber- 
lain to  Her  Majesty  Queen  Alexandra  since  1901. 

The  Goodrich  family,  from  which  Dr.  Edward 
Goodrich  Acheson  is  descended  on  the  maternal 
side,  is  of  English  origin,  and  the  exact  date  of 
the  arrival  of  the  first  of  the  name  in  America 
is  unknown.  The  family  had  already  given 
distinguished  names  to  American  annals  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  several  of  its  members 
achieving  lasting  fame  in  literature,  theology, 
and  the  sciences,  including  astronomy  and 
mathematics. 

Dr.  Acheson's  grandfather,  David  Acheson, 
immigrated  to  America  from  Belfast,  Ireland, 
and  settled  in  Washington,  Pa.,  at  a  time  when 

24 


that  extreme  southwestern  section  of  the  state 
still  had  some  of  the  old  frontier  associations 
and  surroundings.  Grandfather  Acheson  was 
gifted  with  a  high  degree  of  intelligence,  energy, 
and  enterprise,  and  was  quick  to  comprehend 
the  resources  and  grasp  the  opportunities  of 
the  growing  state.  He  prospered  in  business 
and  gained  the  esteem  of  his  neighbors,  who 
elected  him  to  the  legislature,  to  which  he  was 
three  times  re-elected.  He  founded  a  family 
which  acquired  great  distinction  in  Pennsyl- 
vania. One  of  his  sons,  Marcus  W.  Acheson 
was  Judge  of  the  United  States  Circuit  Court 
for  the  Third  Judicial  District,  which  includes 
the  States  of  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey  and  Dela- 
ware; another  Alexander  Acheson  was  Judge 
of  Washington  County,  Pennsylvania,  and 
another  son,  William  Acheson,  was  the  father 
of  the  subject  of  our  sketch. 


CHAPTER  III 

DR.  ACHESON'S  STORY— BIRTH  TO  SIXTEEN 
YEARS  OF  AGE 

I  was  born  in  the  "round  corner"  at  the 
intersection  of  Main  and  Maiden  Streets,  in  the 
town  of  Washington,  Pennsylvania,  on  the  Qth 
day  of  March,  1856,  and  was  the  sixth  child 
and  second  son  of  William  and  Sarah  Diana 
(Ruple)  Acheson.  My  father  was  in  the  gro- 
cery business,  his  family  living  over  and  back  of 
his  store,  and  consisting  of  himself,  my  mother, 
one  brother,  William — eight  years  my  senior — 
two  sisters,  Margaret  and  Ellen — six  and  four 
years  my  seniors  respectively — myself,  and  two 
sisters,  Jean  and  Belle,  one  and  three  years  my 
juniors. 

In  1 86 1  our  family  moved  to  Monticello, 
situated  on  the  Allegheny  River,  some  forty- 
seven  miles  above  Pittsburgh,  and  three  above 
Kittanning,  the  County  Seat  of  Armstrong 
County,  Pa.  The  property  and  village  of  Mon- 

26 


ticello  and  a  furnace  located  there  had  been 
purchased  by  an  uncle  and  other  gentlemen  of 
Pittsburgh  and  my  father.  My  father  was 
made  manager,  and  in  view  of  the  fact  that  his 
past  life  had  not  in  any  sense  prepared  him  for 
that  of  a  manufacturer,  and  more  particularly 
an  iron  manufacturer,  with  its  multitudinous 
ramifications,  cares  and  responsibilities,  I  con- 
sider that  his  selection  for  so  responsible  a  posi- 
tion was  solely  due  to  his  sterling  qualities  of 
uprightness,  energy,  and  all-around  worth.  He 
became  successful  as  a  furnaceman,  the  "Mon- 
ticello  Irons"  made  under  his  management 
attaining  quite  a  reputation  for  high  quality. 

My  boyhood  days  at  Monticello  were,  as  I 
remember  them,  one  round  of  pleasure.  I  con- 
fined myself,  however,  to  the  strictly  boyish 
pursuits;  my  Summer  days  being  spent  in  fish- 
ing, boating,  hunting,  and  spending  many  hours 
about  the  furnace,  where  I  think  I  was  some- 
what of  a  favorite  with  the  workmen.  In  the 
Winter  I  attended  the  "District  School"  con- 
ducted by  one  of  the  neighboring  farmers. 

I  think  it  was  in  1869  I  went  in  company 

27 


with  R.  D.  Laughlin,  whose  uncles  lived  at  and 
owned  Stewardson  Furnace,  situated  some  seven 
miles  from  my  home,  to  a  boarding  school  at 
North  Sewickley,  Beaver  County,  Pa.  I  re- 
mained there  for  one  school  year,  and  afterward 
went  with  young  Laughlin  to  an  Academy, 
sometimes  called  the  "School  in  the  Mountains," 
at  Belief onte,  Centre  County,  Pa.,  situated  in 
the  midst  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains.  Here  I 
commenced  my  first  real  work  at  study.  I  was 
beginning  to  form  some  conception  of  what  my 
future  life  might  be.  I  had  no  taste  for  the  lan- 
guages, but  much  fondness  for  mathematics. 
I  was  deeply  interested  in  geometry,  trigon- 
ometry and  surveying,  and  the  following  inci- 
dent which  occurred  at  the  time  of  one  of  my 
visits  at  home  during  a  vacation  illustrates  my 
mathematical  tendencies. 

At  Monticello  Furnace,  there  was  a  ferry 
crossing  the  river,  the  boat  being  attached  by 
means  of  a  moving  wheel  to  a  wire  rope  stretched 
across  the  river.  I  believe  as  the  results  of  high 
water  in  the  river  and  extra  high  chimneys,  this 
rope  caught  upon  the  smokestacks  of  a  boat  and 

28 


fell  across  its  deck.  The  captain  of  the  boat  had 
the  rope  cut  in  two  with  a  cold  chisel,  thus  effect- 
ually destroying  it  for  further  use  in  ferry  work. 
It  was  at  this  time  that  I  came  home  and  the 
matter  of  determining  the  length  for  a  new  cable 
was  under  discussion.  My  geometry,  trigon- 
ometry, and  surveying  being  fresh  in  my  mind, 
and  believing  that  I  had  an  opportunity  for  dis- 
playing my  boyish  knowledge,  I  secured  the 
boards  forming  the  head  of  a  barrel,  fastened 
them  together  by  appropriate  cleats  to  make  a 
complete  disc,  graduated  the  edge  into  three 
hundred  and  sixty  degrees,  mounted  on  it  a 
cross-bar  with  sights  at  each  end,  the  whole  being 
supported  by  a  suitable  staff.  I  laid  off  a  base 
line  on  one  shore  of  the  river,  and  from  the 
extremities  measured  with  my  crude  theodolite 
the  included  angles  between  the  line  and  the 
supporting  point  of  the  cable  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  river  and  determined  the  distance 
between  the  supports  of  the  proposed  cable  on 
the  opposite  sides  of  the  river.  You  can  prob- 
ably readily  imagine  that  neither  my  father  nor 
others  had  much  confidence  in  the  result  of  my 

29 


engineering  feat,  but  I  remember  that  after  the 
distance  had  been  determined  in  some  other 
manner,  it  was  found  that  my  calculations  were 
approximately  correct.  This  I  look  upon  as  my 
first  practical  engineering,  and  occurred,  I  be- 
lieve, when  I  was  in  my  sixteenth  year. 

During  the  Fall  term  in  1872,  I  was  suddenly 
called  home,  my  father  having  already  antici- 
pated the  financial  catastrophe  that  over- 
whelmed the  country  in  1873-4.  This  ended 
my  school  days.  While  still  in  my  seventeenth 
year,  and  with  practically  but  three  years  school- 
ing, I  found  myself  brought  suddenly  face  to 
face  with  the  necessity  of  making  for  myself  a 
livelihood. 


CHAPTER  IV 

SIXTEENTH  TO  TWENTY-SECOND  YEAR 

My  first  employment  after  this  recall  from 
school  was  that  of  time-keeper  at  the  furnace. 
This  permitted  of  my  devoting  considerable 
time  to  mechanical  and  other  pursuits.  My 
father  took  much  interest  in  mechanics,  and  I 
can  yet  remember  his  suggesting  to  me  that  I 
devote  my  thoughts  to  the  accomplishment  of 
something  of  value.  He  pointed  out  the  need 
of  an  improved  means  of  drilling  holes  in  the 
rocks  and  slates  in  the  coal  mines  where  blast- 
ing was  required.  He  offered  to  meet  any  ex- 
penses I  might  incur  in  my  efforts  to  perfect  a 
boring  machine.  I  set  to  work  at  the  problem, 
and  before  me  I  now  have  the  papers  of  a  Caveat 
of  the  United  States  Patent  Office  issued  to  me 
under  date  of  March  5th,  1873,  for  "Improve- 
ments in  Process  of  Mining  Coal,  Ore,  Clay, 
Etc."  This  notes  my  first  entry  into  the 
United  States  Patent  Office  at  the  age  of  seven- 


teen.  I  also  have  before  me  a  full  itemized  bill 
of  William  Fisher  of  Pittsburgh,  dated  April 
25th,  1873,  for  the  labor  and  material  entering 
into  the  construction  of  a  Boring  Machine  I 
had  him  make  for  me.  The  total  cost  I  find 
was  $154.65 ;  the  bill  being  receipted  June,  1873. 
The  machine  worked  fairly  well,  but  owing  to 
my  inexperience,  I  had  designed  it  too  heavy 
and  it  was  cumbersome  to  handle.  In  1886, 
I  saw  this  same  machine  in  a  machine  shop  at 
Kittanning,  where  it  was  doing  efficient  work 
as  a  drilling  machine. 

In  the  early  part  of  1873,  my  father  was 
taken  seriously  ill  with  heart  disease,  from  which 
he  had  suffered  for  some  years.  He  was  finally 
relieved  by  death  on  the  2oth  day  of  June,  1873. 

Immediately  following  my  father's  death,  a 
great  financial  panic  came  down  upon  the 
country.  The  iron  business  was  crushed  by 
the  depression.  The  company  in  which  my 
father's  estate  was  placed  was  carried  into 
bankruptcy  in  1874.  All  that  was  left  to  my 
mother  and  her  family  was  a  one-half  interest  in 
a  coal  property  that  my  father  and  brother 

32 


had  fortunately  bought  some  years  previously. 
Both  my  father  and  brother  had  transferred 
their  holdings  in  this  property  to  their  wives, 
and  the  income  from  this  was  all  that  was  left 
to  their  families. 

I  think  it  was  in  1873,  when  seventeen  years 
old,  I  made  my  first  practical  acquaintance  with 
Electricity.  I  bought  a  number  of  cheap  yel- 
low metal  watches.  Fitting  up  galvanic  bat- 
teries, I  secured  a  number  of  my  mother's  silver 
forks  and  with  them  as  anodes,  silver  plated  the 
watch  cases,  and  sold  them  at  an  increased 
price.  When  my  mother's  effects  were  divided 
among  her  children,  my  "anodes"  were  properly 
deducted  from  my  allotment. 

With  my  old  relics,  I  found  a  notebook  con- 
taining entries  made  in  those  boyhood  days, 
and  amongst  them  are  a  number  of  quotations 
from  Shakespeare  and  other  sources,  which  I 
think  have  had  much  to  do  with  moulding  my 
character.  Here  are  a  few  of  them: 

"Speak  sweetly,  man,  although  thy  looks  be  sour/' 
"There's  a  divinity  that  shapes  our  ends,  rough-hew 
them  how  we  will." 

"Life's  but  a  walking  shadow." 

33 


"The  worst  is  death,  and  death  shall  have  his  day." 
"Hope  to  enjoy  is  little  less  in  joy,  than  hope  en- 
joyed." 

I  am  somewhat  uncertain  of  the  dates  of 
the  various  changes  that  I  made  during  the 
next  succeeding  years,  but  I  think  the  following 
history  is,  in  the  main,  correct.  In  October, 
1874,  I  went  to  Reynoldsville,  Pa.,  where  a 
brother-in-law,  W.  H.  Smith,  husband  of  my 
sister  Ellen,  was  Engineer-in-Charge  of  opening 
coal  mines  and  laying  railroads  to  them.  I 
was  employed  for  a  short  period  with  his  civil 
engineering  corps,  and  then  became  a  clerk  in  a 
dry  goods  and  notion  store  in  Reynoldsville. 
After  a  short  service  here,  I  was  called  back  to 
Monticello,  which  had  been  leased  from  the 
assignees  by  the  uncles  of  my  friend,  R.  D. 
Laughlin,  and  they  were  engaged  in  converting 
a  very  large  stock  of  Lake  Superior  ore  and 
other  supplies  into  salable  iron.  My  brother, 
William,  was  managing  the  furnace  for  the 
Messrs.  Laughlin,  and  I  was  placed  in  the  gen- 
eral store  as  clerk. 

When  the  stocks  on  hand  were  worked  up 
and  the  furnace  finally  and  for  all  time  stopped 

34 


• 


operations,  I  went  to  Emlenton,  a  station 
on  the  Allegheny  Valley  Railroad,  where  my 
brother-in-law,  W.  H.  Smith,  was  then  located 
as  Engineer-in-Charge  of  the  construction  of  a 
narrow  gauge  railroad  from  Emlenton  to  Clarion 
through  a  newly  discovered  oil  territory.  I 
was  employed  in  various  capacities  in  the  corps. 
While  there  I  met  a  gentleman  by  the  name  of 
Kendle  from  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  who  was  represent- 
ing parties  owning  a  patented  apparatus  for 
regulating  the  supply  of  water  to  steam  boilers, 
and  for  giving  an  alarm  by  whistle  in  event  of 
the  water  becoming  dangerously  low  in  the 
boiler.  I  became  much  interested  and  believed 
the  affair  a  good  one.  I  brought  the  matter 
to  the  attention  of  a  brother-in-law,  Dr.  T.  M. 
Allison  of  Kittanning,  Pa.,  husband  of  my  sister 
Margaret,  and  induced  him  to  join  me  in  buying 
the  right  to  the  patent  for  Pittsburgh  and  the 
County  of  Allegheny,  Pa.  We  paid  one  thou- 
sand dollars  for  this  right,  the  Doctor  loaning  me 
the  money  to  pay  for  my  half.  I  went  to  Pitts- 
burgh and  established  myself  in  a  room  on  the 
second  floor  of  a  bank  building  at  the  corner  of 

35 


Wood  and  Sixth  Streets.  The  room  to  the  best 
of  my  recollection,  contained  nothing  but  a 
washstand,  an  office  table,  two  chairs  and  a  cot, 
and  served  me  as  office  and  bedroom.  On  the 
glass  in  the  door,  I  had  painted  the  name  of  the 
firm — "Acheson  &  Allison,"  and  the  line  of 
their  business.  As  the  results  of  strenuous 
efforts  over  much  time,  I  secured  orders  for  and 
placed  two  of  the  regulators,  one  in  a  machine 
shop  and  the  other  in  a  rolling  mill. 

Using  my  office  as  a  bedroom,  I  took  my 
meals  at  a  restaurant,  one  of  those  where  you 
get  your  meals  by  the  card,  each  one  being  re- 
corded by  a  hole  in  the  pasteboard.  Expenses 
went  on  without  an  income,  times  got  gloomy, 
and  I  had  contracted  a  debt  with  the  restaurant 
keeper.  Things  were  so  desperate  I  resolved  on 
a  change.  I  went  to  the  head  office  of  the  Alle- 
gheny Valley  Railroad  and  inquired  for  Mr. 
Thomas  M.  King,  General  Superintendent  of  the 
Railroad.  Mr.  King  had  been  entertained  at 
my  home  and  would  know  me  by  name.  I  saw 
him,  told  my  story,  and  applied  for  a  position. 
He  told  me  to  return  at  a  certain  hour  the  next 

36 


day,  and  if  he  were  not  in  to  have  his  Secretary 
call  him  by  telegraph.  I  called  as  told  and  found 
him  out.  His  Secretary  called  him  up  and  found 
him  at  Parker  Station.  Mr.  King  asked  that 
I  call  at  his  office  the  next  day  at  a  certain  hour, 
which  I  did  and  learned  from  him  I  could  have 
the  position  of  ticket  clerk  at  Parker,  at  a  salary 
of  fifty  dollars  per  month,  provided  I  furnished 
bonds  for  one  thousand  dollars.  I  thanked 
him,  called  upon  my  uncle,  M.  W.  Acheson,  then 
a  prominent  lawyer  of  Pittsburgh,  afterwards 
Judge  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  Third  Judicial 
District  of  the  United  States*,  stated  my  case 
to  him  and  he  went  on  my  bond.  I  immediately 
reported  to  Mr.  King  and  received  a  pass  to 
Parker.  I  settled  up  my  business  affairs  in 
Pittsburgh,  which  were  largely  covered  by  con- 
veying my  office  and  household  effects  to  the 
restaurant  proprietor  for  his  account  against 
me,  and  on  the  following  evening  I  was  in  Parker, 
where  I  was  duly  installed  in  my  new  work. 

I  think  it  was  early  in  1877  that  I  went  to 
Parker,  which  was  at  that  time  the  centre  of 

*  Died  of  apoplexy  June  21st,  1906. 

37 


the  then  stirring  petroleum  country  of  America. 
A  narrow  gauge  railroad  ran  from  the  Parker 
Station  out  to  and  through  the  oil  country  of 
Millers  Town,  Cams  City,  and  adjacent  terri- 
tory. Great  crowds  of  people  would  come  in 
on  this  road  and  take  trains  on  the  Allegheny 
Valley  Railroad,  making  my  duties  lively  and 
strenuous. 

Early  in  life  I  developed  an  acute  pride  and 
was  quick  to  resent  any  accusation  of  dishonesty 
or  evil  intent.  This  was  well  illustrated  by  an 
incident  which  occurred  here.  One  day  several 
men  came  into  the  gentlemen's  room  in  the  sta- 
tion. I  recognized  them  as  lumbermen,  who 
had  probably  come  down  the  River  on  rafts  of 
timber — a  class  of  men  usually  rough  and  un- 
couth. One  of  them  came  up  to  the  ticket  win- 
dow and  bought  a  ticket  to  a  point  up  on  the 
Clarion  River.  After  having  left  the  window, 
he  presently  returned  and  accused  me  of  having 
given  him  short  change.  I  protested  against 
his  accusation,  when  he  said,  "It  is  all  right  for 
you  to  claim  innocence,  but  I  saw  you  take  the 
bill  from  the  change,"  or  words  to  that  effect. 

38 


The  ticket  window  was  fairly  large  and  not  pro- 
tected, as  is  now  the  custom,  with  wire  grating. 
Instantly  my  arm  was  outstretched  and  I  struck 
the  man  in  the  face  with  my  fist.  A  great  tur- 
moil ensued.  The  agent  and  clerks  hurriedly 
locked  all  doors,  expecting  the  raftsmen  to 
make  a  general  assault.  Much  to  my  gratifica- 
tion and  the  relief  of  the  office  force,  the  man 
whom  I  had  struck  presently  returned  and  apolo- 
gized, saying  he  had  been  mistaken,  having 
found  his  change  all  right. 

I  think  I  remained  at  Parker  about  six 
months.  I  went  to  Pittsburgh  on  the  last  pas- 
senger train  that  passed  over  the  Allegheny 
Valley  Railroad  before  it  was  shut  down  by  the 
great  railroad  strike  of  1877.  A  general  reduc- 
tion of  ten  per  cent,  was  made  in  the  wages  and 
salaries  of  the  employes  of  the  railroad ;  my  fifty 
dollars  was  thereby  reduced  to  forty-five  dollars. 
The  railroad  station  was  on  the  East  bank  of 
the  Allegheny  River,  while  the  city  of  Parker 
was  on  the  West  side.  There  was  but  one  place 
for  me  to  board — a  hotel  adjoining  the  station, 
and  I  was  required  to  pay  thirty  dollars  per 

39 


month.  The  balance  out  of  my  salary  was  not 
large  and  the  end  of  the  year  1877,  saw  me  once 
more  with  W.  H.  Smith  as  a  member  of  a  Civil 
Engineer  Corps  in  Bradford,  McKean  County, 
Pa.  Mr.  Smith  was  now  Engineer-in-Charge  of 
the  construction  of  a  narrow  gauge  railroad 
from  Bradford,  Pa.,  to  Clean,  N.  Y.  I  had  so 
far  progressed  in  years  and  experience  that  I 
was  made  Resident  Engineer  of  a  Division  from 
the  town  of  Gilmore  to  the  New  York  State  line. 


CHAPTER  V 
TWENTY-SECOND  TO  TWENTY-FOURTH  YEAR 

I  look  back  on  my  life  and  experience  while 
on  this  work  with  much  real  pleasure.  Being 
but  twenty-one  or  twenty-two  years  of  age,  with 
a  strong,  rugged  constitution  and  unbounded 
enthusiasm,  I  was  ready  to  meet  and  enjoy  any 
hardships  encountered.  The  country  was  wild, 
rough  and  heavily  timbered.  It  was  in  the 
first  acts  of  development  into  the  most  busy  and 
bustling  of  oil  territories.  My  boarding-house 
and  headquarters  were  in  a  rough,  frame  house, 
little  more  than  a  shanty,  in  the  forest  not  far 
from  the  New  York  State  line.  The  house  ac- 
commodated not  only  our  engineering  party, 
but  a  number  of  oil  well  drillers  and  teamsters. 
The  first  floor  consisted  of  a  small  front  room, 
containing  pine  benches  and  a  wood  stove,  the 
time  of  year  being  Winter;  back  of  that  was  a 
dining-room,  with  a  long  pine  table  and  benches 
on  each  side,  and  still  back  of  that,  the  kitchen. 

4i 


My  bed  consisted  of  a  rough  board  box  filled 
with  straw  in  a  room  over  the  front  room  down- 
stairs; the  stovepipe  from  the  wood  stove  passed 
up  at  the  foot  of  my  bunk  and  out  through  a 
large  hole  in  the  roof.  At  night  the  fire  went 
out  and  many  mornings  I  have  awakened  and 
found  a  tolerable  good  coating  of  snow  on  my 
bed  coverings,  it  having  entered  through  the  large 
opening  around  the  stovepipe  where  it  passed 
through  the  roof.  Along  the  house,  outside  of 
the  front  door,  was  a  shelf  or  bench  on  which 
were  tin  basins  to  be  used  in  washing;  the  nec- 
essary water  was  obtained  from  a  brook  passing 
the  door  by  breaking  the  ice  covering  it. 

On  the  completion  of  the  railroad  construc- 
tion, I  secured  a  position  as  tank  gauger  with 
the  United  Pipe  Lines  Company  in  Bradford. 
The  United  Pipe  Lines  Company  was  a  sub-com- 
pany of  the  Standard  Oil  Company.  They  had 
a  great  network  of  pipes  throughout  the  oil 
territory.  These  pipes  were  connected  to  the 
oil  tanks  at  the  wells  and  conducted  the  oil  to 
large  storage  tanks  located  at  convenient  ship- 
ping points.  A  tank  gauger 's  duties  were  to 

42 


ride  about  the  country,  usually  on  horseback, 
and,  with  a  steel  tape  line,  accurately  measure 
the  depth  of  the  tank,  its  circumference  at  var- 
ious points  between  its  top  and  bottom,  these 
varying  owing  to  the  tank  being  smaller  at  the 
top  than  the  bottom ;  note  was  also  made  of  the 
thickness  of  the  staves  forming  the  tank,  and, 
if  any,  how  much  and  where,  supports  and  cross- 
pieces,  known  as  "dead  wood,"  were  placed 
inside  of  the  tank.  These  measurements  and 
information  were  entered  in  a  note  book  and 
transcribed  in  the  office  in  Bradford;  and  from 
them,  Mr.  R.  M.  Sayer,  the  Superintendent,  and 
his  sister  as  his  assistant,  calculated  out  a  skele- 
ton of  a  table  of  capacity  for  the  tank  measured, 
which  wras  identified  by  a  number  the  gauger 
nailed  on  it  after  measuring. 

The  skeleton  for  the  table  of  capacity,  as 
prepared  by  the  Superintendent,  was  handed  to 
one  of  the  gaugers  and  with  it  as  a  basis,  he  pre- 
pared and  filled  out  a  complete  table,  this  work 
being  done  by  him  after  he  returned  to  the  office 
from  his  field  work,  and  for  it  he  was  paid  a  cer- 
tain price  per  table.  I  found  this  work  very 

43 


much  to  my  liking  and  quite  remunerative, 
receiving  three  dollars  per  day  for  gauging,  and 
sometimes  making  as  much  as  six  dollars  extra 
by  filling  out  tables.  I  became  quite  expert  in 
making  the  tables,  and  made  a  rather  good,  clear 
figure.  This  evidently  impressed  the  Super- 
intendent, for,  wishing  to  have  some  tables  used 
by  him  and  his  sister  in  calculating  the  skeleton 
tables,  made  in  the  new,  he  set  me  to  work  copy- 
ing them.  They  were  very  extensive,  consisting 
of  a  great  mass  of  figures.  There  was  absolutely 
nothing  about  them  that  would  inform  one  how 
they  were  made,  nevertheless  they  excited  my 
curiosity  and  made  me  envious  of  the  superior 
knowledge  of  Mr.  Sayer. 

Here  my  restless,  inquisitive  nature  asserted 
itself  and  I  commenced  the  calculations  for,  and 
construction  of,  a  set  of  tables  from  which  to 
rapidly  compute  the  capacities  of  tanks.  To 
put  them  in  a  permanent  form,  I  sent  to  New 
York  and  had  a  very  handsome,  strong,  leather- 
covered  book  made.  The  book  is  now  before 
me  and  on  the  fly  leaf  is  printed : 

44 


Tank  Gangers'  Pocket  Tables. 

Circumference  and  Diameter  of  Circles, 

Barrels  per  Inch,  Deadwood  Tables,  Etc. 

E.  G.  ACHESON, 
Bradford,  Pa.,  August  i,  1878. 
Each  page  is  ruled  and  appropriate  headings 
printed.   It  contains  about  six  hundred  pages  and 
I  had  filled  about  one-third  of  it  with  the  results 
of   my  tedious   calculations,  when  Mr.  Sayer 
learned  of  my  work  upon  it  and  discharged  me. 
Settling  up  my  affairs,  I  took  a  train  for 
Monticello  where  my  mother  and  two  younger 
sisters  still  lived.     On  the  train  I  found  Mr. 
Daniel  O'Day,*  Manager  of  the  United  Pipe 
Lines  Company.     I  related  my  story  to  him,  and 
he  told  me  to  return  to  Bradford,  and  on  his 
return  he  would  investigate  my  case. 

Not  long  after  my  return  home,  I  suffered  the 
greatest  loss  of  my  life — the  counsel  and  guiding 
spirit  of  my  mother,  who  died  November  i3th, 
1878,  after  having  been  for  several  years  a 
patient,  uncomplaining  invalid.  It  is  to  her 
guiding  spirit  I  owe  my  fixed  purposes  in  life 

*Died  September  13th,   1906. 

45 


and  many,  if  not  all,  of  my  almost  miraculous 
escapes  from  the  snares  which  beset  my  way  as 
a  young  man. 

My  two  sisters,  Jean  and  Belle,  wished  to  go 
to  the  Seminary  at  Washington,  Pa.  I  con- 
cluded to  go  with  them  to  Washington,  with  the 
hope  of  obtaining  a  position  on  a  Civil  Engin- 
eering Corps,  which  was  about  to  take  the  field 
for  the  preliminary  survey  of  a  proposed  rail- 
road to  be  called  the  Pittsburgh  Southern, 
which  was  to  run  south  from  Pittsburgh  to 
Morgantown,  West  Va.  I  secured  a  position 
on  this  work,  a  Mr.  McConahey  was  Chief  Engin- 
eer of  the  Survey,  and  I  was  appointed  his  First- 
Assistant. 

I  think  the  surveying  party  left  Washington, 
Pa.,  for  Morgantown,  West  Va.,  on  December 
3ist,  1878.  We  went  by  narrow  gauge  railroad 
to  Waynesboro,  and  there,  being  a  heavy  snow 
on  the  ground,  by  sledges  to  Morgantown. 
When  on  the  hill,  overlooking  the  Monongahela 
River  and  still  some  five  miles  from  Morgan- 
town,  our  sledge  broke  down.  The  night  was 
bitter  cold,  I  remember  the  thermometer  stood 

46 


at  zero.  I  was  taken  with  severe  pains  in  my 
stomach.  This,  I  think,  was  the  beginning  of 
the  stomach  trouble  from  which  I  suffered  for 
many  years.  When  our  sledge  broke  down,  it 
was  late  at  night  and  impossible  to  obtain 
a  suitable  conveyance.  Our  party  of  fifteen 
started  to  walk.  My  pains  increased  and  be- 
tween two  of  the  axmen  of  the  party,  I  was 
partly  carried  to  Morgantown,  where  we  arrived 
at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Shortly  after 
arriving,  the  pains  increased  beyond  my  endur- 
ance, and  I  was  given  a  hypodermic  injection  of 
morphia.  I  remember  I  slept  for  something 
like  twenty  hours,  and  remained  confined  to 
my  room  for  seven  days.  I  then  took  the  field, 
and,  with  the  transit  at  the  head  of  the  party, 
run  a  line  towards  Pittsburgh  for  eighty-five 
miles,  tramping  continuously  in  snow. 

After  the  completion  of  this  survey,  I  left 
my  sisters  in  Washington  and  returned  to  Brad- 
ford and  was  put  back  on  the  force  of  Tank 
Gaugers,  having  agreed  to  the  demands  of  Mr. 
Sayer.that  I  give  up,  while  in  his  employ,  the 
book  of  tables  I  was  making,  cease  to  work  upon 

47 


the  subject,  and  work  in  an  outlying  territory 
with  the  town  of  Duke  Centre  as  my  head- 
quarters. I  went  to  Duke  Centre  and  had  as  a 
co-worker,  a  man  by  the  name  of  Bates.  After 
being  there  some  weeks,  I  became  restless  and 
could  not  resist  the  temptation  to  occupy  my 
evenings  on  my  old  line  of  calculations.  Not 
long  after  this,  I  was  called  in  to  Bradford  by 
Mr.  Sayer,  and  there  told  that  Mr.  Bates  had 
picked  up  a  piece  of  paper  from  the  floor  of  the 
room  we  jointly  used  as  an  office,  had  brought 
the  paper  to  Mr.  Sayer,  and  he  recognized  my 
writing  and  figures,  and  also  that  the  figures  on 
the  paper  indicated  I  was  once  more  calculating 
out  my  tables.  I  acknowledged  he  was  correct, 
and  was  removed  from  Duke  Centre  to  Bradford 
where  I  was  confined  to  making  out  tank  cap- 
acity tables  from  the  skeletons  prepared  by 
Mr.  Sayer  or  his  sister.  For  this  work  I  was 
paid  by  the  piece,  and  I  noticed  there  was  a 
gradual  falling  off  of  the  amount  allotted  to  me. 
The  evident  intention  of  Sayer  was  to  starve  me 
out.  At  this  time  Mr.  Sayer  got  married  and 
went  on  a  trip  with  his  bride  to  Lake  Chautau- 

48 


qua,  leaving  in  charge  of  the  office  a  Mr.  King, 
one  of  the  gaugers.  Mr.  Saver's  sister  performed 
all  the  calculating  relating  to  the  small  oil  tanks 
employed  at  the  oil  wells,  but  the  field  measure- 
ments of  the  large  iron  storage  tanks  of  the 
Pipe  Lines  Company  were  forwarded  to  Mr. 
Sayer,  who  made  the  calculations  and  returned 
the  results  to  the  Bradford  Office. 

It  happened  one  morning,  after  I  had  com- 
pleted the  meagre  work  that  had  been  allotted 
to  me,  I  went  out  on  the  street  and  up  town,  re- 
turning about  noon  to  see  if  there  was  more 
work  to  be  had.  I  found  the  office  in  a  great 
uproar.  A  large  iron  storage  tank  had  been 
completed  somewhere  in  the  territory  the  pre- 
vious day,  the  field  measurements  taken  and 
sent  forward  to  Mr.  Sayer.  Immediately  after 
being  measured,  the  tank  was  partly  filled  with 
oil  and  the  Bradford  Office  wished  to  know  the 
amount  of  oil  it  contained  in  order  to  report  it 
to  the  head  office  at  Oil  City.  Mr.  Sayer's  cal- 
culations would  not  return  until  the  following 
day.  While  I  was  in  the  office,  Mr.  Snow,  the 
Superintendent  of  the  United  Pipe  Lines,  came 

49 


in  and  asked  me  if  I  could  calculate  the  capacity 
of  the  tank.  I  answered  "Yes."  He  said  to 
proceed;  I  did.  The  tank  held  approximately 
twenty-five  thousand  barrels  of  oil.  My  figures 
were  used  that  evening  to  report  to  Oil  City. 
The  next  day  Mr.  Sayer's  figures  arrived  and 
were  found  to  differ  five  barrels  from  mine.  Mr. 
Sayer  was  advised  of  the  discrepancy  and  by 
return  mail  acknowledged  he  had  made  an  error 
of  five  barrels  in  his  calculations.  He  was  re- 
moved from  the  superintendency.  Had  I  been 
older,  I  probably  would  have  been  made  Super- 
intendent of  Tank  Gauging,  but,  under  the  cir- 
cumstances, an  experienced  man  was  brought 
from  the  Parker  field  for  the  position  and  I  was 
moved  into  the  offices  of  the  United  Pipe  Lines 
and  made  assistant  to  Mr.  Charles  R.  Huntley, 
who  was  in  charge  of  the  department  known  as 
"Oil  Freshening,"  i.  e.,  the  collecting  of  the 
storage  dues  from  the  operators  and  issuing  cer- 
tificates that  no  charges  stood  against  it.  Mr. 
Huntley  has  remained  a  friend  ever  since.  He 
is  now  identified  with  many  industries  in  and 
about  Buffalo;  the  General  Manager  of  the 

50 


Buffalo  General  Electric  Company,  and  a  Dir- 
ector of  the  International  Acheson  Graphite 
Company. 

While  in  this  position  I  received  seventy- 
five  dollars  per  month,  and  during  my  spare  time 
I  became  much  interested  in  scientific  subjects, 
particularly  electrical  ones.  I  was  a  constant 
reader  of  the  ' 'Scientific  American,"  the  leading 
or  only  publication  of  the  times  keeping  in  close 
touch  with  the  rapidly  expanding  electrical 
field,  such  as  the  telephone  and  Edison's  work 
on  lighting.  My  studies  were  much  stimulated 
by  close  association  as  room-mate  with  a  Mr. 
Kuno  Kuhn,  who  was  the  Superintendent  of  a 
large  oil  company,  and  a  man  well  informed  on 
scientific  subjects.  I  devised  plans  for  a  small 
dynamo  and  had  one  built  in  a  local  machine 
shop.  It  was  faulty  in  design;  the  bearings 
were  too  light  and  the  workmanship  on  it  was 
not  good.  The  armature  struck  the  field  and 
I  could  not  make  it  work. 

I  became  so  much  enraptured  with  electrical 
work  that  I  concluded  to  sever  my  connection 
with  the  United  Pipe  Lines  and  seek  an  opening 


in  that  field.  I  notified  the  Pipe  Line  officers 
of  my  intention.  They  tried  to  dissuade  me  by 
offering  to  increase  my  salary  to  ninety  dollars 
per  month.  Their  efforts,  however,  were  with- 
out avail,  and  I  left,  I  think,  late  in  the  Fall  of 
1879,  going  down  to  Monticello,  where  my 
brother  still  lived.  He,  my  sisters  and  friends, 
opposed  my  going  to  New  York  to  look  for 
electrical  work,  as  was  my  intention.  I  was 
persuaded  to  join  my  brother  in  the  business  of 
mining  iron  ore.  My  two  younger  sisters,  Jean 
and  Belle,  and  I  started  into  housekeeping,  I 
spending  my  time  superintending  about  sixty 
men  mining  iron  ore  at  various  mines  located 
on  the  Allegheny  River  and  Red  Bank  Creek. 

While  some  profit  was  derived  from  the  ore 
mined,  it  was  largely  expended  and  lost  in 
searching  for  deposits  that  were  not  remunera- 
tive, or  failed  to  exist  at  the  points  where  open- 
ings were  made. 

By  the  Fall  of  1880,  I  had  concluded  there 
was  no  promising  future  in  the  iron  ore  business 
in  the  Valley  of  the  Allegheny,  and  once  more 
became  restless  to  go  East  and  cast  my  lot  with 

5* 


the  electrical  industry.  I  wrote  to  Mr.  Edward 
Weston  of  Newark,  N.  J.,  for  a  position.  Dr. 
Weston,  now  the  manufacturer  of  the  well- 
known  electrical  measuring  instruments,  was 
then  a  large  manufacturer  of  electro-plating 
dynamos,  which  was  at  that  time  one  of  the 
foremost  departments  of  electrical  work.  He 
replied  that  he  could  not  offer  me  employ- 
ment. This  did  not  quench  my  desire  and 
determination. 


S3 


CHAPTER  VI 
AT  MENLO  PARK 

My  sisters  and  I  broke  up  housekeeping. 
They  went  to  Philadelphia  to  attend  school, 
and  I,  with  a  new  suit  of  clothes  on  my  back, 
which  I  still  distinctly  remember,  and  one  hun- 
dred dollars  in  my  pocket — my  return  from  ore 
mining — started  for  New  York,  a  City  I  had  not 
up  to  that  time  seen. 

I  stopped  off  at  Newark  and  called  on  Mr. 
Weston.  When  he  came  into  the  office  of  the 
Works  in  answer  to  my  card,  which  had  been 
taken  to  him,  he  exclaimed  at  once,  "I  wrote  you 
I  could  not  give  you  employment."  I  replied 
I  knew  that  to  be  the  case,  but  I  came  on  never- 
theless. 

I  went  on  to  New  York  City.  I  called  at  all 
of  the  electrical  establishments  whose  names 
and  addresses  I  could  find, — the  medical  battery- 
manufacturer's  predominating.  I  came  near 
getting  an  opening  at  the  Western  Electrical 


Works,  which  made  telegraph  instruments,  etc. 
When  I  called  there,  I  was  told  they  were  in  need 
of  a  young  man  to  test  instruments,  that  a  young 
man  had  already  applied  for  the  position,  and  in 
case  he  was  not  on  hand  the  next  morning,  I 
could  have  the  place.  I  returned  early  next  day 
and  to  my  sorrow  was  told  the  young  man  had 
reported.  I  remember  this  was  on  Saturday. 
I  was  getting  desperate.  Edison  and  his  labor- 
atory at  Menlo  Park  were  then  much  in  the  pub- 
lic eye.  I  had  little  hope  of  securing  an  opening 
there,  but,  as  a  desperate,  final  resort,  took  the 
train  out  to  Menlo  Park.  I  climbed  the  low 
hill  from  the  station,  entered  a  small  brick  build- 
ing in  the  corner  of  a  large  fenced  inclosure. 
The  building  contained  the  office  down  stairs 
and  Edison's  library  up  stairs.  I  handed  my 
card  to  a  boy  in  the  office  with  the  request  to 
see  Mr.  Edison.  He  took  the  card  and  disap- 
peared, presently  returning,  he  opened  a  small 
wicket  gate  and  inviting  me  to  enter,  conducted 
me  out  of  a  rear  entrance  of  the  office,  across  a 
vacant  lot  and  into  a  long  two-story  frame  build- 
ing. He  took  me  upstairs  and  into  a  room  cov- 

55 


ering  the  entire  second  floor  containing  a  num- 
ber of  long  pine  tables,  the  walls  being  lined  with 
shelves  holding  bottles.  At  one  of  the  tables 
sat  three  men,  the  centre  one  in  a  colored  calico 
shirt,  without  coat,  was  introduced  as  Mr. 
Edison.  The  one  on  his  left  I  knew  afterward  to 
be  Mr.  William  J.  Hammer,  and  the  one  on  the 
right  as  Mr.  Francis  R.  Upton.  Mr.  Edison, 
placing  one  hand  to  his  ear  to  indicate  I  should 
speak  loudly,  asked,  "What  do  you  wish?";  I 
replied  "Work."  He  replied,  with  perhaps 
impatience,  "Go  out  to  the  machine  shop  and 
see  Krussi,"  and  returned  to  the  work  absorb- 
ing his  attention.  Mr.  Hammer  kindly  told  me 
to  go  down  stairs,  pass  back  through  the  labor- 
atory, cross  the  yard  to  a  one-story  brick  build- 
ing and  inquire  for  Mr.  Krussi,  who  was  the 
Superintendent . 

I  followed  Mr.  Hammer's  directions  and 
entering  the  machine  shop,  found  myself  in  a 
small  office,  almost  completely  filled  with  a 
large  draughting  table,  over  which  a  man  was 
working.  An  attendant  received  my  inquiry 
for  Mr.  Krussi,  and  while  he  was  gone  I  was  very 

$6 


busy  preparing  myself,  loading  my  gun,  so  to 
speak.  The  draughting  table  inspired  me.  I 
had,  had  some  experience  using  the  tools  of  a 
draughtsman  in  my  civil  engineering  work. 
Presently  a  tall,  foreign-looking  gentleman 
entered  and  asked  me  what  I  wanted.  This  was 
Mr.  Krussi.  On  the  spur  of  the  moment,  I  am 
afraid  I  told  a  white  lie.  I  replied,  "Mr.  Edison 
sent  me  to  you  for  you  to  put  me  to  work." 
"What  kind  of  work?"  he  asked;  "Draughting," 
I  said.  "All  right, "he  replied.  " Mr.  Hornig needs 
an  assistant.  Can  you  report  for  duty  Monday 
morning  ?"  I  assured  him  I  could.  So  it  hap- 
pened that  the  i2th  day  of  September,  1880, 
while  still  in  my  twenty- fifth  year,  saw  me 
installed  in  Mr.  Edison's  employ  at  Menlo  Park, 
N.  J.  Mr.  Krussi  soon  learned  of  the  decep- 
tion I  had  played  upon  him,  and  held  me  under 
suspicion  for  a  long  time. 

Menlo  Park,  in  the  Fall  of  1880,  was  com- 
posed almost  entirely  of  Edison's  interests. 
There  was  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  station, 
a  hotel,  at  which  I  boarded,  the  homes  of  Mr. 
Edison,  Charles  Batchelor,  and  Francis  Upton 

57 


three  or  four  boarding  houses,  Edison's  labora- 
tory, office,  machine  shop,  and  a  new  building 
to  be  used  as  a  lamp  factory,  the  first  of  its  kind 
ever  constructed.  There  were  probably  two 
hundred  men  employed  in  the  Edison  works  and 
great  activity  existed.  A  few  days  after  I  was 
at  work,  I  took  up  the  subject  of  perfecting  the 
small  dynamo  I  had  made  while  in  Bradford. 
I  found  it  so  faulty  that  I  concluded  to  build  a 
new  one.  I  had  the  necessary  iron  castings 
made  at  Newark,  and  with  the  help  of  a  co- 
worker,  Martin  Force,  to  set  the  tools  in  the 
lathe,  I  worked  in  the  machine  shop  at  night, 
where  I  was  permitted  the  use  of  the  tools.  Mr. 
Edison  several  times  stopped  at  the  lathe  at 
which  I  was  working  and  watched  me  intently. 
I  presume  he  had  forgotten  me  and  had  to 
inquire  who  I  was.  Edison  was  then  but  thirty- 
three  years  of  age,  although  world-renowned  by 
reason  of  his  great  telegraph  inventions.  The 
World  was  at  that  time  looking  expectantly  to 
Menlo  Park  for  the  solution  of  practical  electric 
incandescent  lighting.  After  I  had  been  at 
Menlo  Park  long  enough  to  feel  at  home,  I 

58 


showed  Edison  the  small  dynamo  I  had  made  at 
Bradford  and  asked  his  opinion  of  the  ideas  in- 
volved. He  said  it  was  like  the  one  designed  by 
Siemens,  and  told  me  to  go  over  to  his  library 
and  get  from  Dr.  Moses,  the  librarian,  a  certain 
book  in  which  I  would  find  a  machine  like  mine 
described.  I  did  so  and  found,  as  he  had  said, 
Siemens'  dynamo  almost  exactly  the  same  as 
the  one  I  was  working  on.  I  remember  the 
book  contained  a  photograph  of  the  machine, 
and  it  was  a  fair  picture  of  my  own  machine, 
design  of  the  frame  and  all.  I  then  changed  the 
design  to  that  of  a  rotating  transformer. 

Shortly  after  this  personal  acquaintance  was 
formed  with  Mr.  Edison,  I  was  transferred  from 
the  position  of  Assistant  to  Mr.  Hornig,  to  the 
drafting  room  devoted  to  making  the  drawings 
for  Mr.  Edison's  patent  applications  and  more 
special  work  in  which  Mr.  Samuel  D.  Mott  was 
principal  draftsman. 

Mr.  Edison  was  at  this  time  working  upon 
an  electric  meter  to  be  used  in  connection 
with  central  station  distribution.  I  became  ac- 
quainted with  the  requirements  of  the  case  and 

59 


the  urgent  need  of  such  an  instrument.  What 
appeared  to  be  a  happy  thought  occurred  to  me 
for  the  method  and  design  of  a  meter.  I  made  a 
drawing  of  my  proposed  instrument,  and  the 
next  time  Edison  came  into  the  room,  I  showed 
it  to  him.  He  seated  himself  on  a  high  stool  at 
the  drawing  table,  put  his  arms  on  the  board 
and  his  head,  face  down,  on  them,  and  seemed 
lost  for  some  time  in  thought.  After  some  min- 
utes he  raised  his  head  and  addressing  me  said, 
"I  do  not  pay  you  to  make  suggestions  to  me 
how  do  you  know  but  I  already  had  that  idea, 
and  now  if  I  use  it  you  will  think  I  took  it  from 
you."  I  assured  him  I  considered  anything  I 
could  produce  while  in  his  employ  and  pertain- 
ing to  his  interests,  belonged  to  him;  that  my 
thinking  on  those  lines  was  due  to  my  being  in 
his  laboratory  and  cognizant  of  his  needs  and 
lines  of  work.  He  made  a  test  of  my  meter 
scheme,  and,  notwithstanding  it  looked  so  feas- 
ible, it  proved  a  failure.  Immediately  after  this 
incident,  I  was  taken  from  the  drafting  room 
and  placed  in  the  original  experimental  depart- 
ment. I  was  now  in  my  glory.  I  had  a  large 

60 


room  under  my  supervision,  equipped  with  all 
the  conveniences  required,  balance  room,  muffle 
furnaces,  air  pressure,  gas,  electricity,  steam 
bath  cabinet,  etc.  I  was  thrown  into  associa- 
tion with  most  agreeable  companions.  I,  at 
this  time,  formed  a  close  friendship  with  Dr. 
Edward  L.  Nichols,  who  had  recently  returned 
from  Europe  where  he  had  followed  an  exten- 
sive course  of  study  in  the  foremost  universities 
of  the  Continent.  He  was  at  this  time  doing 
special  scientific  work  for  Edison.  The  Doctor 
is  now  Professor  of  Physics  at  Cornell  Univer- 
sity. I  made  a  number  of  special  investiga- 
tions for  Edison, — especially  on  the  filament  for 
the  incandescent  lamp.  I  had  every  oppor- 
tunity to  use  my  inventive  faculties. 

I  think  it  was  in  the  following  December 
that  I  was  one  day  called  by  telephone  to  go 
down  to  the  new  lamp  factory  and  see  Mr. 
Edison.  When  I  arrived  at  the  factory,  I  found 
Mr.  Edison,  Francis  R.  Upton,  Charles  Batche- 
lor,  and  Edward  H.  Johnson  in  conference; 
these  three  gentlemen  were  partners  of  Edison 
and  looked  after  various  departments.  I  was 

61 


ushered  into  their  presence,  and  Edison  informed 
me  that  Mr.  Batchelor,  who  was  in  charge  of  the 
construction,  development  and  operation  of  the 
lamp  factory,  was  soon  to  sail  for  Europe  to  pre- 
pare for  the  exhibit  to  be  made  at  the  Electrical 
Exhibition  to  be  held  in  Paris  during  the  com- 
ing Summer,  and  that  he  wished  me  to  take 
charge  of  the  factory.  I  demurred  and  said  I 
would  much  prefer  to  remain  in  the  laboratory 
on  experimental  work.  He  said  that  lamp  manu- 
facturing was  still  experimental,  and  he  was 
kind  and  frank  enough  to  say  he  wanted  me  to 
take  hold  of  it  because  I  was  a  thinker.  He 
won  the  day  and  under  Mr.  Batchelor's  instruc- 
tions I  began  my  duties.  I  think  it  was  the 
third  or  fourth  day  after  I  had  been  there,  that 
the  following  conversation  occurred  between 
Batchelor  and  myself.  "Mr.  Batchelor,  how 
much  am  I  to  get  here  as  salary?"  I  asked. 
"How  much  have  you  been  getting  at  the  lab- 
oratory?" he  answered.  "I  was  getting  seven 
dollars  and  fifty  cents  per  week."  "Well,  I 
think  we  can  do  a  little  better  here,"  he  said. 
"You  will  have  to  pay  me  one  hundred  dollars 

62 


per  month  if  you  wish  me  to  remain.  I  was 
getting  seventy-five  dollars  and  could  have  had 
ninety  dollars  per  month  from  the  Standard  Oil 
interests,  but  I  threw  that  aside  to  enter  experi- 
mental work,"  I  replied.  "That  is  more  than 
we  can  afford  to  pay,"  he  said.  I  told  him  I 
was  of  the  same  opinion,  owing  to  my  inexperi- 
ence, but  he  would  have  to  excuse  me  from  con- 
tinuing. I  did  not  return  the  next  day.  Mr. 
Upton,  against  his  will,  was  required  to  take 
charge  and  relieve  Mr.  Batchelor. 

I  sat  around  my  boarding-house  for  several 
days  and  spent  most  of  the  time  wondering  if 
I  had  made  a  mistake.  Finally  I  brought  my 
courage  up  to  the  point  of  walking  up  to  the 
laboratory.  When  I  entered  I  met  Edison,  and 
he  laughingly  joked  me  about  not  being  able  to 
stand  the  work  at  the  lamp  factory.  Then  he 
said,  "There  in  the  end  of  the  room  is  an 
hydraulic  press;  have  it  put  in  order,  and  make 
for  me  a  small  graphite  loop  like  this  (making  a 
sketch  like  a  horseshoe).  I  want  the  loop  one 
inch  outside  diameter,  the  filament  to  be  twenty- 
five  thousandths  of  an  inch  wide  and  two  thou- 

63 


sandths  of  an  inch  thick.  I  will  have  steel  plates 
made  for  you  to  press  sheets  between  and  a  die 
made  for  punching  out  the  filaments.  When 
you  make  one  capable  of  mounting  in  a  lamp,  I 
will  give  you  a  prize  of  one  hundred  dollars." 
All  of  which  was  done  as  he  wished,  and  I 
received  the  one  hundred  dollars.  I  find  I  now 
have  in  my  safe  an  ordinary  visiting  card  on 
which  is  pasted  one  of  these  graphite  loops,  and 
on  the  card  is  written: 

"Menlo  Park,  N.  J.,  Feb.  n,  1881. 
Hydraulic  pressure  one  hundred  tons.  (This 
referred  to  total  pressure  on  a  sheet  of  graphite 
about  one  and  three-quarters  inches  by  four 
inches  from  which  the  loops  were  punched.) 
Thickness  fifteen  ten-thousandths  of  an  inch. 
This  loop  won  one  hundred  dollars  as  a  prize; 
the  prize  being  offered  by  T.  A.  Edison  to  the 
undersigned, 

E.  G.  ACHESON." 

Mr.  Edison  then  entered  into  an  agreement 
with  me  to  make  thirty  thousand  of  these  fila- 
ments. I  engaged  a  man  and  a  boy  to  help  me, 
and  became  so  expert  at  making  them  that  I 
was  earning  twelve  dollars  per  day  by  the  time 
sixteen  thousand  had  been  turned  out.  Edison, 

64 


at  this  time,  was  occupied  in  New  York,  building 
the  first  electric  lighting  station  in  Pearl  Street. 
The  filaments  I  was  making  of  graphite  pro- 
duced a  magnificent  light,  but  they  did  not  last 
long  in  use,  disintegrating  rapidly.  I  had  made 
sixteen  thousand  of  them  and  then  went  to  Mr. 
Upton  and  told  him  that  I  was  not  happy  in 
making  an  inefficient  article,  notwithstanding 
I  was  realizing,  for  me,  a  great  deal  of  money. 
I  considered  it  a  waste  of  money  and  would 
much  prefer  to  throw  up  my  contract.  He 
wrote  to  Mr.  Edison  about  the  matter,  and  in  a 
few  days  I  received  the  following  letter: 

"New  York,  April  20,  1881. 
Mr.  E.  Acheson, 

Menlo  Park,  N.  J. 
Dear  Sir: 

You  had  better  go  into  the  lamp  factory  and 
learn  the  lamp  business  in  all  its  details. 

Yours  truly, 

Thos.  A.  Edison. " 

I  at  once  knew  this  meant  my  preparation 
for  a  sojourn  in  Europe  as  expert  in  electric 
lamp  manufacturing.  I  now  returned  to  the 
lamp  factory,  which  I  had  a  few  weeks  before 

65 


left,  but  under  very  different  auspices.  I  went 
through  all  of  the  departments,  learning  to  do 
the  work  with  my  own  hands.  The  filaments  were 
then  made  of  bamboo.  I  fashioned  the  wood  fibre, 
carbonized  them,  mounted  them  on  their  plati- 
num wires,  which  I  had  sealed  in  glass,  for  the 
base  of  the  lamp,  called  "inside  part."  I  sealed 
the  "inside  part"  into  the  glass  globe,  exhausted 
the  air  from  the  lamp,  sealed  and  tested  it  and 
prepared  it  for  shipment.  I  studied  the  details 
of  the  various  machinery  and  apparatus  of  the 
factory,  and  made  myself  competent  to  con- 
struct and  operate  one.  My  relations  with 
Edison  at  this  time  may  be  gathered  from  the 
following  letter: 

"Menlo  Park,  N.  J.,  May  2nd,  1881. 
Mr.  E.  G.  Acheson: 

Please  come  up  to  the  laboratory  and  bring 
one  of  those  nickel  molds  in  which  they  bend  the 
fibre  to  carbonize  it,  and  press  a  piece  of  plum- 
bago the  thickness  of  the  mold.  It  is,  I  believe, 
one-eighth  of  an  inch  and  then  hollow  it  out  for 
the  nickel  piece  to  allow  the  carbon  to  draw  up. 
After  you  have  got  it,  have  Dr.  Haid  pass  the 
gas  over  it.  I  want  to  see  if  we  cannot  make 
these  little  plated  molds  out  of  plumbago  using 

66 


the  nickel  piece  to  put  straight  on  the  fibre. 
If  we  could  use  these,  it  would  save  a  great  deal 
of  money.  Also  try  some  experiments  on  getting 
the  best  mixture  of  litherage  and  glycerine, 
also  the  right  proportions  of  plaster  of  Paris 
for  the  sockets  of  the  lamps. 

We  are  lame  on  these  points. 

Yours, 

Edison." 

While  I  was  thus  preparing  myself  for  the 
specific  work  of  electric  incandescent  lamp 
manufacturing,  I  was  at  night  diligently  at 
work  studying  electrical  distribution,  measure- 
ment, and  the  science  generally.  At  this  time 
the  literature  devoted  to  electrical  science  was 
limited.  I  have  here  before  me  a  book  to  which 
I  owe  much;  it  is  certainly  dry  reading,  but  I 
worked  hard  over  its  contents.  It  is  entitled 
"  Reports  of  the  Committee  on  Electrical  Stand- 
ards, appointed  by  the  British  Association  for 
the  Advancement  of  Science,"  published  under 
date  of  1873. 

After  I  had  fairly  well  mastered  the  lamp 
business,  Edison  had  me  prepare  a  complete  set 
of  instruments  for  measuring  the  efficiency  of 
lamps.  These  consisted  of  a  Rheostat,  Con- 

67 


denser,  Galvanometer,  Standard  Cell,  Resistance 
Coils,  Wheatstone's  Bridge,  and  Photometer. 
This  last  mentioned  instrument  was  the  only 
one  built  under  my  supervision  and  according 
to  my  design.  A  description  of  this  Photometer 
is  given  in  the  volume  "  Dynamo-Electricity" 
by  George  B.  Prescott,  1884. 


68 


CHAPTER  VII 
IN  EUROPE 

Everything  possible  having  been  done  to 
prepare  for  a  very  complete  exhibit  of  Edison's 
electrical  inventions  at  the  coming  International 
Electrical  Exposition  in  Paris,  and  it  having 
been  decided  I  should  go  over  as  First  Assistant 
to  Mr.  Batchelor,  who  was  Chief  Engineer  and 
Edison's  representative,  I  sailed  out  of  New 
York  Harbor  on  board  the  French  liner 
"Amerique"  on  the  2oth  day  of  July,  1881, — 
nine  months  and  eight  days  from  the  day  I 
entered  Mr.  Edison's  employ  at  Menlo  Park. 

Mr.  Batchelor,  his  wife,  and  two  little  daugh- 
ters were  on  the  vessel.  I  enjoyed  the  voyage 
immensely.  This  trip  is  memorable,  not  only 
as  being  my  first  experience  on  the  ocean,  but 
more  especially  for  the  formation  of  the  acquain- 
tance of  two  gentlemen,  who  have  always  since 
been  close  friends.  One  was  Mr.  John  S.  Huyler, 
a  confectionery  manufacturer  of  New  York,  who 

69 


was  making  his  first  trip  to  Europe  for  the  pur- 
pose of  studying  the  business  in  its  cities,  and 
the  other  was  Mr.  Frank  L.  Freeman,*  a  patent 
lawyer  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  who  was  going  to 
Paris  as  a  United  States  Commissioner  to  the 
International  Electrical  Exhibition.  Mr.  Free- 
man has  since  procured  for  me  thirty-nine  United 
States  Patents. 

At  the  Exposition  I  was  First  Assistant,  but 
had  charge  particularly  of  the  testing  apparatus. 
Edison's  exhibit  contained  the  only  complete  set 
at  the  Exposition.  An  International  Committee 
composed  of  Mr.  William  Crookes,  now  Sir  Wil- 
liam Crookes,  Major  R.  Y.  Armstrong,  both  of 
England,  and  Prof.  G.  F.  Barker  of  Philadelphia, 
was  appointed  to  determine  the  relative  effi- 
ciencies of  the  incandescent  lamps  exhibited. 
These  comprised  those  of  Edison,  Maxim,  Sawn 
and  Lane-Fox.  Mr.  H.  Crookes,  son  of  Sir  Wil- 
liam, and  I  assisted  in  making  the  measurements. 

Mr.  Edison's  interests  were  in  charge  of  Mr. 
Batchelor,  myself  and  four  assistants,  amongst 
whom  was  a  Mr.  James  C.  Hippie,  who  had  come 

*  Died  March  5th,  1907. 
70 


over  from  Menlo  Park  as  a  special  expert  in  the 
glass  working  of  the  Edison  lamp.  He  and  I 
became  closely  associated,  and  many  years  after- 
wards he  was  employed  by  me  in  my  Carbor- 
undum interests. 

At  the  close  of  the  Exposition,  I  and  the  rest 
of  the  Edison  staff  transferred  our  attention  to 
the  construction  of  machine  shops  and  lamp 
factories  at  Ivry-sur-Seine  for  the  Society  Edison 
Continentale  of  Paris,  France,  a  Company 
formed  to  operate  the  Edison  patents  in  Europe. 
While  devoting  the  most  of  my  time  to  the  fac- 
tory building,  as  occasion  would  permit,  I  was 
sent  out  to  install  small  lighting  plants  in  other 
countries.  These  plants  were  used  as  exhibits 
and  formed  the  basis  for  the  formation  of  com- 
panies to  work  the  Edison  patents.  My  first 
experience  of  this  kind  was  the  installation  of 
electric  lights  in  the  drawing-rooms  of  the  great 
Scala  Theatre  of  Milan,  Italy.  Then  I  installed 
a  plant  in  a  museum  in  Brussels,  Belgium;  after- 
wards started  off  an  installation  in  the  Hotel 
de  Ville,  Antwerp,  Belgium;  then  an  installation 
in  the  Restaurant  Kramopolsky,  Amsterdam, 


Holland.  These  were  the  first  in  these  several 
countries. 

It  was  while  building  the  lamp  factory  at 
Ivry  that  Nicola  Tesla  first  came  into  my  life. 
Tesla  was  a  Montenegran,  had  received  a  fine 
education  and  had  been  employed  in  Budapest 
on  telephone  work.  A  Mr.  Puskus,  a  Director 
of  the  Paris  Edison  Company,  was  interested  in 
the  Telephone  Company  of  Budapest  and 
brought  Tesla  to  Paris.  He  was  placed  with  me 
and  it  was  my  business  to  inform  him  in 
the  electric  lighting  business.  He  progressed 
rapidly,  and,  in  after  years,  became  world- 
famous  for  his  schemes  and  inventions. 

After  the  season  closed  at  the  Scala  Theatre 
of  Milan,  (this  Theatre  only  remained  open  for 
two  months  in  the  Winter  of  each  year)  the  in- 
stallation I  had  placed  in  it  was  to  be  moved  over 
to  the  Cafe  Biffi  in  the  Galleria  Vittoria  Eman- 
uele,  the  engine  and  dynamo  which  I  had  placed 
in  the  Royal  Entrance  to  the  Theatre  were  to 
remain  where  I  placed  them.  I  was  at  this  time 
in  Amsterdam  and  an  engineer  by  name  of 
Seuble  was  sent  to  Milan  to  make  the  change. 

72 


One  day  when  in  Brussels  I  received  a  telegram 
from  the  Paris  office  to  report  there  prepared  to 
go  to  Italy.  I  immediately  took  the  train 
for  Amsterdam,  got  together  my  effects,  and 
returned  through  Brussels  to  Paris.  Here  I 
learned  the  lights  in  the  Cafe  Biffi  had  failed; 
why,  no  one  knew.  Having  originally  put  the 
plant  in  the  Scala,  I  was  well  acquainted  with 
its  details.  I  knew  the  field  in  the  dynamo  to 
be  crooked  and  I  suspected  Seuble  had  over- 
loaded the  dynamo,  which  had  a  capacity  of 
sixty  lamps.  I  reasoned  the  armature  of  the 
machine  had  been  overheated,  rubbed  the  field 
and  stripped  the  wires  off.  There  was  in  the 
Paris  factory  what  was  called  a  boring  bar,  for 
boring  out  the  fields  of  dynamos,  and  I  took  this 
heavy  piece  of  machinery  with  me  in  the  passen- 
ger coach,  over  the  Alps,  into  Italy.  On  arriv- 
ing in  Milan,  I  found  the  dynamo  just  as  I  had 
expected,  Seuble  having  overloaded  it.  I  bored 
out  the  field,  re-micaed  the  commutator,  con- 
nected up  the  windings,  and,  I  think,  in  three 
days  had  the  lights  going  in  the  Cafe  Biffi.  I 

73 


was  expected  to  return  to  Paris  after  the  Italian 
interests  were  put  in  order. 

An  Edison  Company  had  been  formed  in 
Milan,  with  Professor  Columbo  as  President. 
This  Company  wished  me  to  remain  with  them 
and  asked  me  to  make  them  a  proposition.  If 
I  remember  correctly,  I  was  then  getting  a 
salary  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  per  month 
from  the  Paris  Company,  and  I  told  the  Italian 
Company  I  would  remain  as  their  Engineer  at 
a  salary  of  three  hundred  dollars  per  month. 
They  accepted  my  terms.  When  the  news  of  my 
action  reached  Paris,  a  Mr.  Baily,  who  was  Man- 
aging Director  of  the  Paris  Company,  wrote  to 
me  demanding  that  I  sever  my  connections  with 
the  Milan  Company,  return  to  them  the  excess 
in  salary  I  had  received  and  return  to  the  employ 
of  the  Paris  Company.  He  also  wrote  Professor 
Columbo  to  discharge  me.  When  this  letter  was 
received,  I  was  installing  a  plant  at  Bergamo. 
I  also  had  a  letter  from  Professor  Columbo  in 
which  he  advised  me  to  pay  no  attention  to  the 
requests  of  Mr.  Baily.  However,  I  wrote  Mr. 
Baily  that  I  would  remain  with  the  Italian  Com- 

74 


pany.  Shortly  after  this  Professor  Columbo 
went  to  Paris  and  from  there  to  America  with 
Mr.  Baily.  The  following  letter  was  written 
after  Mr.  Baily  had  boarded  the  steamer  and 
mailed  at  Queenstown: 

"S.  S.  'Arizona,'  5th  Aug.  '82. 
My  dear  Acheson : 

I  was  too  busy  to  write  you  the  last  few  days 
I  was  in  Paris.  Mr.  Columbo  is  with  me,  as  you 
know  probably.  Referring  to  your  letter,  you 
will  find  your  interests  advanced  by  following 
the  counsel  I  give  you, — to  not  think  of  treating 
on  your  own  account.  You  have  experience 
enough  to  understand  that  our  Cie  Continentale 
will  always  have  more  consideration  with  the 
Italian  or  any  other  company  it  may  be  allied 
with  than  you  or  any  other  individual  can  have. 
Do  not  try  to  go  too  fast,  because  at  the  end  of 
six  months  from  now  you  will  not  be  so  far  ad- 
vanced as  you  would  have  been  by  using  a  little 
more  patience.  You  must  be  content  to  grow 
with  the  affairs  you  are  with  and  as  it  grows. 
Your  path  has  widened  out  somewhat,  as  I  told 
you  it  would,  and  it  will  continue  to  widen  if 
you  show  yourself  equal  to  the  situations  you 
are  placed  in,  and  do  not  make  it  impossible 
by  impatience  for  those  to  serve  you  who  would. 
You  ought  now  to  put  yourself  to  instruct  with 
all  your  might  and  cordially,  the  persons  put 

75 


with  you  to  learn,  in  making  installations  and 
running  wires.  You  are  disposed  to  be  consti- 
pated on  this  I  think,  and  don't  let  yourself  out 
enough.  It  isn't  what  is  in  a  man  but  what  gets 
out  that  makes  an  impression  on  the  world. 
The  work  I  have  spoken  of  above  is  your  work 
for  now,  but  if  you  act  wisely  you  will  have  more 
important  work  two  months  hence.  Try  and 
make  your  mark  to-day  without  fretting  over 
to-morrow,  and  I  think  you  will  be  surprised  to 
find  out  how  to-morrow  will  take  care  of  itself. 
I  hope  you  will  take  pride  in  advancing  the 
interests  of  our  Companies  and  you  will  find 
they  will  take  care  of  you,  and  don't  get  into 
any  side  currents  or  by-ways. 

The  above  is  dictated  by  a  desire  to  advance 
you.  Prof.  Columbo  and  I  without  doubt  shall 
talk  of  a  good  many  things  before  we  get  back 
and  you  will  not  be  forgotten.  You  can  write 
me  for  a  week  out  after  you  get  this  at  65  Fifth 
Avenue. Baily." 

I  consider  the  criticism  contained  in  this 
letter  as  unjust.  The  "future"  Mr.  Baily 
referred  to  was,  I  think,  my  being  sent  into  Ger- 
many. I  had  introduced  the  light  into  Holland, 
Belgium  and  Italy,  and  superintended  the  con- 
struction of  the  lamp  factory  at  Ivry-sur-Seine, 
France,  and  the  prospects  were  for  the  early 


introduction  of  the  light  into  Germany,  and  the 
building  of  a  lamp  factory  at  Berlin.  I  was 
being  made  use  of,  and  I  was  willing  to  serve 
the  Company's  interests,  but  I  did  not  think  I 
was  being  justly  paid  for  what  I  was  doing. 

The  Italian  Company  bought  an  old  theatre 
located  in  the  center  of  the  City  and  converted 
it  into  a  central  electric  lighting  station,  the 
dynamos  and  engines  and  boilers  being  brought 
from  America.  I  made  frequent  trips  into 
neighboring  cities  and  towns  to  install  isolated 
plants.  Among  others  I  placed  one  in  Udine  to 
the  northeast  of  Venice;  one  in  Genoa;  one  in 
Pisa,  within  sight  of  the  celebrated  *  'Leaning 
Tower";  one  in  Bergamo;  one  upon  the  side  of 
the  Alps  above  Lake  Maggiora. 

The  necessity  of  getting  all  our  supplies 
through  the  Paris  Company  and  the  strained 
relations  between  me  and  that  office  made  it 
rery  unpleasant  for  me,  and  I  decided  to  sever 
my  connections  with  the  Italian  Company.  I 
sent  in  my  resignation,  and,  at  the  request  of  the 
President,  remained  until  an  Engineer,  Mr.  John 
Lieb,  came  over  from  New  York  to  relieve  me. 

77 


I  believe  I  left  the  service  of  the  Italian  Com- 
pany about  the  beginning  of  the  year  1883.  I 
left  Milan  and  returned  to  Paris,  having  been  in 
Italy  about  seven  months,  and  this  without 
having  seen  Florence,  Rome,  Naples,  or  any  of 
the  Southern  part.  I  had  taken  no  holidays, 
following  business  closely. 

I  arrived  in  Paris  with  some  little  money  in 
my  pocket  and  a  number  of  ideas  in  my  head  to 
the  effect  that  heat  energy  could  be  economi- 
cally converted  into  electrical  energy.  I  estab- 
lished myself  in  a  small  hotel  in  Rue  d'Auntin 
near  the  Avenue  de  FOpera.  I  had  two  adjoin- 
ing rooms,  one  as  a  bedroom,  the  other  I  made 
into  sort  of  a  laboratory  and  shop.  I  worked 
here  under  tremendous  pressure  for  about  five 
months,  without  meeting  with  any  success.  I 
ran  out  of  money  and  cabled  to  my  brother 
William.  He  responded  with  one  thousand 
dollars.  My  health  began  to  break  and  I  was 
feeling  miserable  in  every  way.  I  resolved  to 
go  over  to  London;  I  do  not  remember  that  I 
had  any  particular  object  in  view.  I  packed  up 
my  effects  and  crossed  the  Channel,  going  to  the 

78 


Queens  Hotel,  London.  The  day  after  my 
arrival  a  most  pronounced  case  of  jaundice  was 
developed  throughout  my  system.  I  certainly 
was  miserable.  The  hotel  people  evidently  did 
not  care  to  have  me  about  and  recommended 
to  me  a  boarding  house  on  Rittenhouse  Square. 
I  moved  my  effects  to  this  house,  which  was  con- 
ducted by  a  kindly  old  lady.  I  was  feeling 
extremely  sick,  low  spirited,  money  practically 
all  gone  and  no  doctor  to  attend  me.  One 
bright  day  I  dragged  myself  out  on  the  pave- 
ment in  front  of  the  house,  in  order  to  get  the 
heat  of  the  sun.  I  had  been  there  some  time 
when  I  recognized  a  familiar  face  in  the  passing 
throng.  It  was  James  Holloway,  whom  I  had 
last  seen  as  a  machinist  in  the  machine  shops  at 
Menlo  Park.  He  was  apparently  pleased  to  see 
me.  In  a  few  minutes  he  learned  my  circum- 
stances and  very  kindly  offered  to  take  me  to  his 
home.  He  would  not  hear  of  a  refusal.  He 
gathered  together  my  effects,  I  settled  up  with 
my  landlady,  and  off  we  went  to  Holloway's 
home  on  High  Holborn.  Jim,  as  I  called  him, 
had  been  sent  some  time  previously  to  London, 

79 


his  former  home,  by  Mr.  Edison  to  assist  in  the 
introduction  of  the  electric  light.  He  had 
married,  the  second  time,  and  was  at  the  time 
I  met  him  in  charge  of  the  electric  lighting  plant 
of  the  Holborn  Restaurant,  and  was  living 
nearby  with  his  wife  and  his  wife's  mother. 

Holloway  procured  a  doctor  for  me  and  he 
and  his  family  gave  me  every  attention  of  which 
their  limited  means  permitted.  I  was  extremely 
sick,  although  not  actually  confined  to  my  bed. 
I  do  not  know  how  long  I  was  in  this  condition, 
but  now  think  the  turning  point  came  with,  or 
as  the  result  of,  the  following  incident.  I 
could  with  some  difficulty  get  out  into  the  street 
and  sun,  and  once  when  out  was  taken  with  an 
intense  desire  for  bananas.  I  purchased  one- 
half  dozen  at  a  nearby  stand  and  smuggled  them 
into  my  room  and  ate  them  all.  In  a  few  days  I 
had  recovered  from  all  danger,  and  I  learned 
from  my  friends  that  neither  they  nor  the  doctor 
had  expected  to  see  me  get  well.  Did  the  ban- 
anas do  it? 

After  I  was  again  well,  Holloway  became 
interested  in  my  experiments  on  the  conversion 

80 


of  heat  energy  into  electricity,  and  introduced 
me  to  Mr.  Gordon,  who  was  at  the  head  of  the 
restaurant  on  High  Holborn  and  the  collection 
of  great  hotels  known  as  the  "Gordon  Hotels." 
Mr.  Gordon  and  a  brother-in-law  together  fur- 
nished me  with  capital  for  once  more  taking  up 
my  line  of  experiments,  and  these  were  con- 
tinued without  success  until  well  into  Decem- 
ber, 1883,  when  I  learned  that  Mr.  Samuel  Insull, 
Mr.  Edison's  private  secretary,  was  in  London 
at  a  certain  hotel.  I  had  known  Insull  at  Menlo 
Park,  and  called  to  see  him  and  related  my  cir- 
cumstances. He  cabled  to  Edison  in  New  York 
and  received  in  reply  cabled  instructions  to 
furnish  me  with  transportation  to  America.  I 
returned  to  America  on  the  S.  S.  "Arizona," 
landing  in  New  York  on  the  fourth  day  of  Jan- 
uary, 1884.  My  roving  about  had  given  me 
considerable  self-reliance,  or  what  is  popularly 
called  "nerve,"  as  is  illustrated  by  this  incident: 
I  came  over  from  England  as  a  first-class  pas- 
senger on  a  ticket  furnished  by  Mr.  Insull.  I 
was  completely  out  of  money,  and  when  we 
fastened  to  the  pier  in  the  North  River,  New 

81 


York,  I  went  down  to  my  state  room  to  have  my 
baggage  brought  up  and  found  the  door  locked. 
This  may  have  been  for  some  other  reason,  but 
I  thought  the  steward  had  locked  it  up  so  I  could 
not  move  out  until  I  had  given  him  a  tip.  I 
went  up  on  deck,  out  on  the  pier  and  at  a  car- 
riage stand  engaged  a  carriage  to  take  me  and 
my  baggage  to  a  family  hotel  on  Eleventh  Street. 
I  asked  the  officer  in  charge  of  the  stand  to  loan 
me  five  dollars  in  United  States  money  until  I 
arrived  at  the  hotel.  He  at  once  handed  me  the 
money  and  I  went  down,  tipped  the  steward,  got 
my  effects,  drove  to  the  hotel,  went  in,  registered 
as  coming  from  London,  England,  asked  the 
hotel  clerk  to  accommodate  me  with  a  few 
dollars  United  States  money,  which  he  did.  I 
paid  my  debt  and  transportation  to  the  cabman, 
and  found  myself  once  more  settled  in  America 
after  two  and  one-half  years  of  strenuous  life 
in  Europe. 


82 


CHAPTER  VIII 
TWENTY-EIGHTH  TO  THIRTY-FIFTH   YEAR 

The  following  day  I  reported  to  Mr.  Edison's 
office  at  No.  65  Fifth  Avenue.  Mr.  Edison 
was  in  Florida,  but  he  had  left  word  that  I 
was  to  take  up  a  line  of  experiments  at  his  lab- 
oratory, which  was  then  in  New  York  City.  The 
Edison  Electric  Light  Company  was  at  this  time 
about  to  commence  the  construction  of  an  up- 
town central  station,  the  Pearl  Street  Station 
having  proven  a  success.  A  few  days  after  I 
commenced  work  at  the  laboratory,  I  was 
informed  that  Mr.  Edison  had  telegraphed  from 
Florida  that  he  wished  me  to  take  the  position 
of  Engineer  of  the  proposed  new  central  station. 
I  did  not  consider  myself  capable  for  this  respon- 
sible position.  Much  progress  had  been  made 
during  the  preceding  two  years,  and  my  work 
in  Europe  had  not  kept  me  in  close  touch  with 
the  advance.  I  did  not  think  the  position  pro- 
posed by  Edison  would  be  congenial  to  me,  and 


I  am  inclined  to  think  Edison  was  not  accur- 
ately estimating  my  capacity,  qualifications 
and  tastes.  I  declined  to  take  the  position  and 
remained  for  some  time  in  the  laboratory  until 
a  scheme  for  controlling  electric  currents,  regu- 
lating dynamos,  etc.,  occurred  to  me  and  carried 
me  once  more  into  experimental  work,  which 
resulted  in  my  again  leaving  Edison's  interests. 
My  experiments  proved  a  failure,  and  then 
through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Samuel  Mott,  I  was 
introduced  to  Captain  Gardner  of  the  Consoli- 
dated Electric  Light  Company,  a  concern  own- 
ing the  Sawyer-Man  patents  on  electric  lamps. 
They  had  a  small  lamp  and  dynamo  factory  in 
Brooklyn.  From  Captain  Gardner  I  obtained 
an  appointment  as  Superintendent  of  the  lamp 
department  of  their  factory,  a  Mr.  Edward  R. 
Knowles  being  General  Superintendent. 

I  now  entered  upon,  perhaps,  the  most  im- 
portant period  of  my  life.  The  lamp  factory 
was  a  very  small  affair  occupying  the  third  floor 
of  a  power  building.  I  was  paid  twenty-five 
dollars  per  week  at  the  beginning  of  my  employ- 
ment, but  owing  to  the  economies  I  introduced 

84 


and  the  increased  output,  this  was  soon  increased 
to  thirty-five  dollars.  After  I  had  been  there 
some  time,  the  company  of  which  a  Mr.  Thayer 
of  Boston  was  President,  undertook  a  reduction 
of  expenses  and  re-organization.  Mr.  Knowles 
was  relieved  of  his  position,  and  Mr.  Thayer 
wished  me  to  take  the  General  Superintendency, 
with  my  salary  reduced  again  to  twenty-five 
dollars  per  week.  I  objected  to  this  arrangement 
and  left  the  employ  of  the  Company. 

For  some  time  I  had  been  much  in  love  with 
a  Miss  Margaret  C.  Maher,  and  I,  a  world- 
wanderer,  at  this  critical  time  when  I  was  out 
of  a  position  and  practically  penniless,  proposed 
marriage  to  her,  and  she,  with  evident  confi- 
dence in  my  ability  to  provide  for  her,  accepted 
me  as  her  partner  for  life. 

Miss  Maher,  having  been  raised  in  the 
Catholic  faith,  desired  to  be  married  in  that 
church,  and  we  were  married  by  the  Rev.  W. 
Keegan  in  the  Church  of  the  Assumption, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  December  i5th,  1884. 

While  with  the  Consolidated  Electric  Light 
Company,  I  had  met  and  become  acquainted 

85 


with  Mr.  William  P.  Shinn,  who  was  one  of  the 
Directors  of  the  Company.  I  had  also  met 
another  Director,  Mr.  W.  C.  Andrews,  who  was 
also  President  of  the  New  York  Steam  Heating 
Company,  Mr.  Shinn  being  Vice-President  of 
that  Company.  I  had  a  project  for  the  con- 
struction of  a  new  style  of  dynamo,  and  went 
to  see  these  two  gentlemen  about  it.  At  that 
time  I  was  a  great  student  of  Faraday's  works, 
and  I  took  with  me  to  Mr.  Shinn's  office  one 
of  the  books  of  Faraday's,  "Experimental 
Researches  in  Electricity,"  and  showed  to  Mr. 
Shinn  why  I  thought  from  Faraday's  results  my 
plan  would  prove  practical. 

Mr.  Shinn  and  Mr.  Andrews  concluded  to  go 
into  the  project,  each  of  us  holding  a  third 
interest.  Quite  a  large  machine  was  built  in 
the  shops  of  the  Steam  Heating  Company  on 
Eighteenth  Street,  New  York.  My  wife  and  I 
moved  from  Brooklyn,  where  we  had  been 
boarding  on  Jay  Street,  to  a  boarding  house  on 
Eighteenth  Street,  New  York. 

The  dynamo  we  built  was  a  failure,  for  while 
it  would  produce  a  current  of  immense  amper- 

86 


age,  the  voltage  was  absurdly  low.  It  was 
another  failure  added  to  my  long  list. 

Just  at  this  critical  moment  I  chanced  to 
meet  one  day  on  Broadway,  at  the  corner  of 
Eighteenth  Street,  John  S.  Huyler,  whom  I 
had  not  seen  since  the  days  of  the  Exposition 
in  Paris,  back  in  1881.  I  think  we  were  both 
delighted  to  meet,  having  formed  an  attach- 
ment on  the  S.  S.  "Amerique"  in  going  to 
France. 

We  exchanged  news  hurriedly  of  what  had 
happened  to  each  since  we  parted.  Huyler  con- 
ducted me  to  his  confectionery  store  nearby  at 
No.  863  Broadway,  and  told  me  he  was  inter- 
ested in  a  plant  over  on  Hudson  Street,  in  which 
a  Mr.  Clark  was  conducting  experiments  on  the 
manufacture  of  insulated  wire  for  electric  work. 
He  said  he  had  then  expended  a  great  many 
thousands  of  dollars,  and  was  slowly  forming  the 
opinion  that  the  whole  thing  was  no  good.  He 
wanted  me  to  join  forces  with  him,  and  either 
carry  it  to  a  success  or  call  it  off.  I  told  him 
how  I  was  situated,  and  could  not  leave  the 
gentlemen  I  was  with  in  the  lurch.  He  said  he 

37 


would  buy  them  out;  I  told  him  my  venture  was 
a  failure.  He  insisted,  and  together  we  went 
down  to  Mr.  Shinn's  office  at  No.  22  Cortlandt 
Street. 

The  sale  and  purchase  was  completed,  Mr. 
Huyler  paying  to  Messrs.  Andrews  and  Shinn 
twelve  hundred  and  some  odd  dollars  and  cents, 
the  exact  amount  expended  in  building  the 
machine  and  paying  me  a  salary  of  twenty-five 
dollars  per  week. 

Huyler  took  me  over  into  his  employ,  paying 
me  twenty-five  dollars  per  week.  The  dynamo 
I  had  built  was  moved  from  the  shop  of  the 
Steam  Heating  Company  and  placed  in  a  sub- 
cellar  of  a  power  building  on  Hudson  Street,  in 
which  Mr.  Clark  had  his  wire  insulating  plant. 
I  moved  my  wife  from  the  boarding  house  on 
Eighteenth  Street  to  a  private  flat  on  One 
Hundred  and  Twenty-fourth  Street  occupied  by 
my  friend  Mr.  Samuel  Mott,  he  and  his  family 
going  for  a  trip  of  some  duration  into  the 
country. 

I  set  myself  earnestly  at  work  upon  Mr. 
Huyler's  problem,  and  ere  long  convinced  my- 

88 


self,  him  and  others  interested,  that  their  wire 
insulating  project  was  worthless,  and  in  course 
of  time  the  plant  was  shut  down. 

I  now  induced  Huyler  to  lend  his  aid  to  some 
experiments  I  wished  to  make  on  the  production 
of  an  anti-induction  telephone  wire,  using  the 
dynamo  in  the  sub-cellar.  He  consented,  and 
on  a  salary  of  fifteen  dollars  per  week  which  he 
paid  me,  I  worked  for  weeks  in  this  room,  two 
floors  underground.  My  project  was  to  take 
a  rubber-covered  wire,  coat  it  with  graphite, 
pass  it  through  a  copper  solution  and  plate  on 
it  a  tube  of  copper;  next  braid  cotton  over  the 
tube;  then  soak  the  cotton  with  asphaltum; 
then  cover  the  whole  with  a  lead  pipe  or  cover- 
ing. I  made  up  some  in  this  manner,  but  they 
only  served  as  samples.  The  scheme  was  good, 
the  central  wire  and  surrounding  insulated  tube 
of  copper  acting  as  the  two  conductors  for  a  tele- 
phone circuit,  their  relative  positions  to  each 
other  entirely  eliminating  cross-talk  and  induc- 
tion. I  took  out  patents  on  the  process  of 
making  this  wire. 

While   I   was   engaged   on  this   work,   our 

89 


daughter  Veronica  Belle  was  born,  and  shortly 
afterward  Mr.  Mott  returned  to  town,  and  I 
moved  my  family  into  a  flat  on  Forty-third 
Street,  between  Seventh  and  Eighth  Avenues. 
I  cannot  say  I  then  looked  upon  life  as  a  bed 
of  roses, — with  an  income  of  fifteen  dollars  per 
week,  a  rent  of  thirty  dollars  per  month  to  pay, 
and  three  people  to  clothe  and  feed.  The  sub- 
cellar  was  an  abominable  place  in  which  to 
work,  and  I  can  now  remember  that  I  usually 
left  there,  after  a  day's  work,  cold  and  almost 
numb  from  my  feet  to  the  waist.  Had  I  not 
had  a  remarkable  constitution,  I  do  not  think 
I  could  have  survived  this  period,  and,  indeed, 
it  is  possible  that  some  of  the  loss  of  health  I 
afterwards  experienced  for  some  years,  may  be 
charged  to  my  struggles  at  that  time. 

Things  were  looking  rather  desperate  when 
my  brother  William,  who  was  still  living  at 
Monticello,  which  had  been  renamed  Gosford, 
came  to  New  York  and  wished  me  to  go  out  to 
Gosford  and  conduct  some  experiments  on  the 
reduction  of  iron  from  its  ores  by  the  use  of 
natural  gas,  which  was  then  quite  plentiful  in 

90 


that  vicinity.  My  work  with  the  wire  not  being 
very  encouraging,  Mr.  Huyler  assented  to  my 
going. 

I  moved  my  wife  and  child  to  Gosford,  and 
we  were  provided  with  accommodations  in  my 
brother's  house,  with  his  family.  Experiments 
were  undertaken,  but  they  were  unsuccessful 
and  disappointing.  I  would  mention  one  little 
incident  that  occurred  while  at  work,  which  had 
a  bearing  on  my  after  acts.  I  passed  natural 
gas  into  a  highly  heated  furnace  in  which  I  had 
placed  some  clay  articles,  and,  when  cold,  I 
found  them  thoroughly  impregnated  with  car- 
bon, and  I  thought  they  were  rendered  harder. 
Things  came  to  a  standstill  for  want  of  capital, 
and  I  again  turned  my  thoughts  to  my  anti- 
induction  telephone  wire.  I  made  a  trip  to 
Pittsburgh  to  see  Mr.  R.  S.  Waring,  President 
of  the  Standard  Underground  Cable  Company, 
with  the  hope  of  interesting  him.  I  opened 
negotiations  with  him  for  the  sale  of  my  patent. 
In  the  meantime,  I  moved  my  family  to  a  board- 
ing-house in  Kittanning,  a  town  three  miles 
down  the  Allegheny  River  from  Gosford.  It 

91 


was  about  forty-four  miles  from  Kittanning  to 
Pittsburgh. 

I  was  out  of  money  completely,  and  I  saw 
time  would  pass  in  the  selling  of  my  patent. 
I  pawned  my  watch-chain  and  bought  a  monthly 
ticket  between  Kittanning  and  Pittsburgh,  and 
made  daily  trips  to  the  City.  I  soon  learned 
that  Mr.  George  Westinghouse  was  negotiating 
with  Mr.  Waring  to  get  control  of  the  Cable 
Company.  I  went  to  see  Mr.  Westinghouse, 
and  proposed  to  sell  him  my  patent.  The  nego- 
tiations between  Westinghouse  and  Waring 
came  to  a  finish,  the  latter  selling  his  interest  in 
the  Cable  Company  to  the  former. 

Mr.  Westinghouse  bought  my  patent  in  the 
interest  of  the  Cable  Company,  paying  me 
seven  thousand  dollars  in  cash  and  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars  of  the  stock  of  the  Standard  Under- 
ground Cable  Company,  which  was  then  cap- 
italized at  three  million  dollars,  and  engaged 
me  for  a  term  of  three  years  as  electrician  to  the 
Cable  Company,  at  a  salary,  I  think,  of  two 
thousand  dollars  per  year.  I  paid  over  to  Mr. 
Huyler  five  thousand  dollars  to  reimburse  him 

92 


for  any  expenses  incurred  on  my  account,  and 
to  my  brother  I  paid  two  thousand  dollars 
against  his  expenses.  Before  my  monthly  ticket 
expired,  I  was  settled. 

This  was  late  in  1886.  I  now  moved  my 
family  to  Pittsburgh,  and  went  to  housekeeping. 
I  am  afraid  my  new  riches  made  me  reckless, 
but  I  wished  my  wife  to  be  as  comfortable  as 
possible.  I  furnished  our  home  as  well  as  I 
thought  we  could  afford,  bought  a  cow,  a  horse 
and  carriage,  engaged  a  man  to  attend  the  barn 
and  drive,  all  of  which  was  beyond  my  means. 
The  capital  of  the  Cable  Company  was  reduced 
from  its  three  million  dollars  to  one  million 
dollars,  thereby  reducing  my  stock  to  sixteen 
thousand,  six  hundred  and  sixty-six  dollars. 

I  found  the  work  with  the  Cable  Company 
very  agreeable.  I  made  trips  to  other  cities  to 
superintend  the  laying  of  cables  underground, 
or  investigate  troubles  that  would  arise;  thus  I 
did  work  in  New  York  City,  Philadelphia,  Chi- 
cago, Detroit,  Washington  City  and  Buffalo. 
While  holding  this  position,  I  made  my  first 
appearance  as  the  author  of  a  paper  before  an 

93 


audience,  and  followed  it  with  a  number  of 
others. 

When  the  three  years  expired,  I  formed  a 
syndicate  of  gentlemen,  among  whom  was  the 
late  Christopher  Magee  of  Pittsburgh,  and  again 
took  up  experiments  on  the  conversion  of  heat 
energy  into  electricity.  We  rented  an  aban- 
doned electric  railway  power  house  in  Allegheny 
City.  Here  I  worked  for  several  months  with 
indifferent  success.  In  the  Fall  of  1890,  I 
thought  that  with  a  small  electric  lighting  plant 
in  some  town,  I  could  make  the  plant  pay  its 
way  by  night  lighting,  and  use  the  dynamo  for 
experiments  during  the  day.  I  looked  about 
for  a  suitable  location,  and  decided  on  Monon- 
gahela  City,  thirty  miles  from  Pittsburgh  on  the 
Monongahela  River. 

Mr.  Magee  and  the  majority  of  the  members 
of  my  syndicate  declined  to  go  into  the  light 
company.  I  got  together  another  party  of 
gentlemen,  among  whom  was  my  friend  John 
S.  Huyler,  and  Joseph  W.  Marsh,  Secretary  of 
the  Standard  Underground  Cable  Company. 

The  Monongahela  Electric  Light  Company 

94 


was  organized  and  incorporated  for  forty  thou- 
sand dollars,  a  suitable  building  purchased,  and 
the  necessary  engines,  dynamos,  etc.,  installed. 
The  Company  commenced  to  furnish  light  to  its 
customers  on  the  2oth  day  of  November,  1890. 
I  now  arranged  to  move  my  family  to  Mon- 
ongahela  City,  it  having  increased  on  January 
25th,  1887,  by  the  birth  of  our  son,  Edward 
Goodrich;  again,  on  September  8th,  1888,  by 
the  birth  of  our  son  Raymond  Maher;  and  again, 
on  May  i4th,  1890,  by  the  birth  of  our  daughter 
Sarah  Ruth.  I  bought  a  small  house,  paying 
for  it  in  part  with  a  mortgage,  and  moved  my 
family  from  Roupe  Street,  Pittsburgh,  where 
they  then  lived.  If  I  remember  rightly,  the 
purchase  of  this  house,  which  I  gave  to  my  wife, 
and  settling  my  family  in  it,  exhausted  what  was 
left  of  the  sixteen  thousand,  six  hundred  and 
sixty-six  dollars  worth  of  cable  stock.  I  closed 
out  the  indebtedness  I  had  incurred  in  the 
Second  National  Bank  of  Allegheny  by  selling 
and  assigning  the  Cable  Company's  stock  owned 
by  me,  to  Mr.  J.  N.  Davidson,  President  of  the 
Bank. 


95 


After  I  was  located  and  all  the  capital  I  could 
raise  invested,  I  realized  that  electric  lighting  in 
a  small  town  was  no  play.  Monongahela  City 
had  a  gas  plant,  owned  by  the  two  local  banks. 
My  plant  was  not  meeting  expenses,  and  not 
being  able  to  get  the  assistance  of  the  town's 
local  paper,  conducted  by  '  'Chill"  Hazzard,  I 
resolved  on  a  determined  effort.  The  town  was 
entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  Republican  Party; 
I  myself  was  of  that  persuasion.  I  had  hand 
bills  printed  immediately  preceding  a  town 
election;  had  boys  carry  them  about  the  town 
and  push  them  under  the  house  doors.  The 
election  came  off,  the  Town  went  Democratic, 
and  electric  lights  were  put  on  the  streets. 


96 


CHAPTER  IX 

DISCOVERY  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF 
CARBORUNDUM 

I  did  quite  a  great  deal  of  experimenting 
during  the  Winter  on  various  lines.  I  think  it 
was  in  February,  1891,  I  was  working  on  the 
making  of  rubber  synthetically.  I  succeeded 
in  producing  a  small  piece,  when  at  this  critical 
moment  Mr.  John  S.  Huyler  came  from  New 
York  to  see  our  plant.  He  was  not  pleased  with 
the  prospects.  He  looked  on  it  with  great  dis- 
favor, and  said  he  had  just  invested  consider- 
able money  in  a  rubber  tree  grove  in  Mexico,  and 
they  intended  to  produce  more  rubber  than  the 
World  would  use.  He  advised  me  to  shut  the 
plant  up  and  "throw  it  into  the  Monongahela 
River."  With  this,  he  left  me  to  my  own 
resources.  His  remarks  discouraged  me  regarding 
rubber;  I  dropped  the  subject  and  resolved 
to  endeavor  to  produce  an  artificial  abrasive. 
Through  inexcusable  negligence  or  careless- 

97 


ness,  I  made  no  record  of  my  experiments 
on  rubber  production,  and  have  to-day  but 
a  hazy  idea  of  how  I  produced  this  small 
sample. 

The  value  of  a  good  abrasive  was  brought 
to  my  attention  by  a  remark  incidentally  made 
in  1880  by  Dr.  George  F.  Kunz  of  Tiffany  & 
Company,  New  York.  I  also  remembered  the 
observation  of  clay  impregnated  with  carbon  I 
made  at  Gosford,  and  I  decided  to  make 
experiments  on  impregnating  clay  with  carbon 
under  the  influence  of  electric  heat. 

An  iron  bowl,  such  as  plumbers  use  for  hold- 
ing their  melted  solder,  was  attached  to  one 
lead  from  a  dynamo  and  filled  with  a  mixture 
of  clay  and  powdered  coke,  the  end  of  an  arc 
light  carbon  attached  to  the  other  lead  was 
inserted  into  the  mixture.  The  percentage  of 
coke  was  high  enough  to  carry  a  current,  and  a 
good  strong  one  was  passed  through  the  mixture 
between  the  lamp  carbon  and  bowl  until  the 
clay  in  the  center  was  melted  and  heated  to  a 
very  high  temperature.  When  cold,  the  mass 
was  examined.  It  did  not  fill  my  expectations 

98 


but  I,  by  sheer  chance,  happened  to  notice  a 
few  bright  specks  on  the  end  of  the  arc  carbon 
that  had  been  in  the  mixture.  I  placed  one  on 
the  end  of  a  lead  pencil  and  drew  it  across  a  pane 
of  glass.  It  cut  the  glass  like  a  diamond.  I 
repeated  the  experiment,  and  collected  enough 
of  the  material  to  test  its  abrasive  qualities.  I 
mounted  an  iron  disc  in  a  lathe,  and,  oiling  its 
surface,  applied  the  material  which  adhered, 
and  with  this  revolving  disc  I  cut  the  polished 
face  off  the  diamond  in  a  finger  ring  still  owned 
and  worn  by  me. 

I  now  made  a  small  furnace  of  bricks,  and 
after  much  and  patient  work,  had  what  I  con- 
sidered enough  to  take  to  the  lapidaries  in  New 
York  City. 

A  friend  by  the  name  of  W.  C.  McCallister, 
a  druggist  of  Monongahela,  and  I  started  for 
New  York.  On  the  way  we  coined  a  name  for 
my  new  and,  as  yet,  unnamed  material.  Under 
the  impression,  without  any  chemical  analysis, 
that  it  was  composed  of  carbon  and  corundum, 
I  called  it  Carborundum. 

Owing  to  unforeseen  circumstances,  I  found 

99 


it  necessary  to  return  to  Monongahela  City  with- 
out having  presented  the  subject  of  Carborun- 
dum to  anyone  who  might  be  interested  in  it 
in  New  York  City.  A  few  days  later  I  returned 
to  New  York  with  my  new  material,  which  was 
contained  in  a  little  vial.  I  had  a  diamond 
cutter  on  John  Street  use  some  of  my  product  to 
repolish  the  diamond  I  had  ground,  and  the 
remainder  he  bought  from  me  at  forty  cents  per 
carat,  or  approximately  eight  hundred  dollars 
per  pound,  and  with  the  proceeds  I  purchased  a 
microscope  to  help  me  in  studying  the  structure 
•of  Carborundum. 

A  great  deal  of  time  and  energy  were 
expended  in  an  effort  to  develop  a  trade  with 
the  Lapidaries,  but  the  consumption  of  abrasives 
in  this  line  was  small,  and  mainly  covered  by 
the  refuse  matter  from  diamond  cuttings  and 
-chippings. 

I  gradually  increased  the  size  of  my  furnace 
and  sent  samples  to  various  emery  wheel  manu- 
facturers to  be  made  into  small  wheels.  With- 
out exception,  these  companies  reported  that 
it  was  not  possible  to  make  the  material  up  into 

100 


successful  wheels.  Not  discouraged,  I  under- 
took experiments  on  these  lines. 

I  organized  The  Carborundum  Company,  and 
incorporated  it  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars  on  the  2ist  day  of  September,  1891. 
One-third  of  the  capital  stock  was  issued  to  the 
stockholders  of  the  Monongahela  Electric  Light 
Company  in  compensation  for  the  services  that 
The  Carborundum  Company  had  received  from 
the  Light  Company. 

A  new  field  opened  up  at  this  opportune 
moment  for  Carborundum.  Mr.  George  West- 
inghouse  had  secured  the  contract  for  lighting 
the  Columbian  Exposition  buildings  in  Chicago, 
the  Exposition  was  to  be  held  in  1893.  The 
Edison  Electric  Light  interest  secured  an  in- 
junction, restraining  Westinghouse  from  making 
a  lamp  of  one  piece  of  glass;  Westinghouse  de- 
vised a  lamp  made  of  two  pieces,  fitted  together 
with  a  ground  joint  as  a  stopper  fits  into  a  bottle. 
He  found  small  Carborundum  wheels  to  be  the 
most  efficient  means  for  grinding  the  joint 
between  these  two  pieces.  I  made  with  my  own 
hands  some  sixty  thousand  small  wheels  for  this 

101 


work,  and  received  from  the  Westinghouse 
Electric  and  Manufacturing  Company  over  seven 
thousand  dollars  for  them.  With  this  money, 
The  Carborundum  Company  bought  its  first 
dynamo;  its  electric  current  up  to  that  time 
having  been  furnished  from  the  dynamos  of  the 
Monongahela  Electric  Light  Company. 

I  think  it  was  in  January,  1893,  I  sent  out 
twelve  thousand  lithographed  cards  to  that 
number  of  dentists.  In  one  corner  I  punched 
a  hole  one-half  inch  in  diameter,  and  in  it  I 
placed  a  Carborundum  wheel  of  that  diameter, 
and  one-sixteenth  of  an  inch  thick.  The  cards 
being  made  of  soft,  heavy  paper,  the  wheels 
were  held  firmly.  On  one  side  of  the  card  were 
lithographed  the  words:  "The  Compliments  of 
the  Season  and  a  Carborundum  Wheel.  Try 
me  wet  or  dry;"  on  the  reverse  side  was  a  price 
list.  By  return  mail  I  received  sufficient  orders 
and  money  to  pay  for  the  cards,  wheels  and 
postage.  These  wheels  I  had  made  myself. 

I  had  two  small  kilns  built,  and  went  earn- 
estly to  work  to  make  a  high  grade  vitrified 
wheel.  The  success  of  these  wheels  caused  Mr. 

IO2 


Lee  S.  Smith  of  Pittsburgh,  who  was  in  the 
dental  supply  business,  and  whom  I  had  en- 
deavored formerly  to  interest  in  Carborundum 
dental  goods,  to  wish  the  sole  agency  for  the 
product.  He  placed  an  order  for  five  thousand 
dollars  worth  of  wheels  and  points,  and  with 
this  money,  the  Carborundum  Company  made 
an  exhibit  at  the  Chicago  Exposition,  and 
much  attention  was  attracted  to  the  material. 
As  a  result  of  this  exhibit,  I  sold,  before  the 
close  of  the  year  1893,  through  a  Mr.  Wissen- 
burger,  to  an  Austrian  Bank  (known  as  the 
Landerbank  of  Vienna)  my  patents  for  Austria- 
Hungary,  receiving  for  the  sale  twenty  thousand 
dollars. 

I  should  have  stated  earlier,  that  some 
months  after  the  discovery  of  Carborundum,  I 
learned  from  analyses  I  had  made  that  it  was 
a  compound  of  carbon  and  silicon,  and  not 
alumina,  the  formula  being  S  i  C. 

Early  in  the  year  1894, 1  went  over  to  Europe 
to  work  my  patents  in  France,  taking  with  me 
an  engineer  by  the  name  of  Frederick  Boiling, 
a  German  who  had  been  in  America  for  some 

103 


years.  I  operated  a  furnace  and  made  Carbor- 
undum in  the  electric  plant  at  Ivry-sur-Seine, 
where  I  had  worked  twelve  years  before. 

A  Mr.  Deichmann,  to  whom  I  had  given  the 
right  to  handle  my  German  patents,  came  down 
to  Paris  from  Berlin,  and  informed  me  that  he 
had  formed  a  syndicate  of  millionaires  who 
were  ready  to  organize  a  company  and  buy  my 
German  patents.  Their  headquarters  were  at 
Iserlohn,  Westphalia. 

Mr.  Boiling  and  I  went  with  Mr.  Deichmann 
up  to  Iserlohn,  and  I  was  entertained  at  the 
home  (called  a  castle)  of  Mr.  Hebers,  a  very 
wealthy  man  and  a  member  of  the  Prussian 
Diet.  I  think  I  was  there  about  a  week,  and  I 
cannot  praise  too  highly  the  hospitality  extended 
to  me.  One  day  I  received  a  telegram  asking 
me  to  meet  a  Dr.  Rapporport,  a  representative 
of  the  Landerbank  of  Vienna,  in  Paris.  I 
answered  that  I  would  receive  him  at  eleven 
o'clock  on  a  certain  day,  at  the  Hotel  Conti- 
nental, Paris.  This  hurried  up  my  German 
friends,  and  a  meeting  was  convened  in  the  ball- 
room of  the  castle,  at  which  all  the  members  of 

104 


the  proposed  Deutsch  Carborundum  Werke 
were  present.  A  corporation  lawyer  had  been 
brought  for  the  occasion  from  the  City  of 
Dortmund. 

Instead  of  making  a  contract  between  the 
proposed  company  and  myself,  as  I  had 
expected,  the  day  was  spent  in  forming  and 
executing  a  power  of  attorney  from  me  to  Mr. 
Deichmann.  Under  this  power,  he  was  to  enter 
into  a  contract  to  sell  the  patents  for  sixty 
thousand  dollars,  twenty  of  which  should  be  in 
cash,  and  forty  in  stock  of  the  proposed 
company. 

In  drawing  up  the  power  of  attorney,  the 
German  gentlemen  wished  to  have  embodied  in 
it  an  agreement  on  my  part  that  Mr.  Deichmann 
should  contract  with  the  German  company  that 
they  should  not  make  less  than  four  per  cent,  on 
the  company's  capital.  I  refused  to  agree  to 
such  a  guarantee,  as  I  would  not  be  the  manager 
of  the  company,  and  all  of  the  gentlemen  were 
perfectly  cognizant  of  my  refusal. 

After  the  day's  work  was  over  and  the  power 
of  attorney  duly  signed,  an  elaborate  banquet 

105 


was  served.  I  was  to  meet  Dr.  Rapporport 
the  next  morning  in  Paris.  The  last  train  had 
left  Iserlohn,  and  I  was  driven  twelve  miles  in 
Mr.  Heber's  family  coach  to  Hagen,  on  the 
main  line  to  Paris.  The  next  morning  at 
exactly  eleven  o'clock,  Dr.  Rapporport  called 
on  me  and  stated  that  the  Landerbank  wished 
to  secure  more  territory,  and  he  was  authorized 
to  negotiate  for  the  German  patent.  He  further 
stated  that  they  would  pay  me  sixty  thousand 
dollars  cash  for  it.  I  had  to  tell  him  that  it  was 
too  late,  as  I  had  sold  it  the  previous  day. 

Within  the  next  few  days,  I  sold  the  Lander- 
bank  my  patent  interests  in  France,  Belgium, 
Switzerland,  Italy,  and  a  pending  application  in 
Russia,  for  the  sum  of  sixty  thousand  dollars 
cash. 

In  the  Fall  of  that  year,  I  received  at  Mon- 
ongahela  City,  from  Mr.  Deichmann,  a  booklet 
containing  a  copy  of  the  contract  he  had  made, 
as  my  attorney,  with  the  Deutsch  Carborun- 
dum Werke,  the  By-Laws  of  the  Company,  etc., 
and  a  long  letter  explaining  why,  in  his  judg- 
ment, he  thought  it  was  wise  to  sign  the  contract 

106 


with  its  Fifth  Clause  agreeing  that  I  guarantee 
the  Company  to  earn  four  per  cent,  on  its  capital. 
The  Company  had  already  paid  me  ten  thou- 
sand dollars,  fifteen  hundred  of  which  I  had 
paid  over  to  Deichmann  as  his  commission.  On 
receiving  his  letter  and  booklet,  I  cabled  over 
canceling  the  entire  affair,  later  repaying  to  the 
defunct  company  the  ten  thousand  dollars. 
I  have  gone  thus  fully  into  this  transaction  to 
illustrate  how  one  may,  by  a  narrow  margin, 
miss  the  opportunity  to  accept  a  good  offer,  i.  e., 
the  offer  of  the  Landerbank. 

My  business  having  been  completed  in 
Europe,  I  returned  home  by  way  of  London, 
where  I  wished  to  find  my  old  friend  Holloway. 
After  quite  a  search,  I  found  him  living  in  the 
outer  part  of  London.  He  was  out  of  a  position, 
and  confined  to  bed  with  an  attack  of  lumbago. 
I  had  the  pleasure  of  reciprocating,  in  part,  his 
former  great  kindness  to  me. 

When  in  Mr.  Hollo  way's  home  I  noticed  an 
old-fashioned  Grandfather's  Clock,  and  on 
inquiry  was  told  that  it  had  formerly  been  the 
property  of  Michael  Faraday.  Mrs.  Holloway's 

107 


mother  had  known  Faraday  personally,  and  knew 
this  clock  to  have  been  in  his  possession.  A  few 
months  after  returning  to  America,  I  received 
by  express  this  same  clock,  as  a  present  from 
Mrs.  Holloway,  and  it  now  stands  in  my  home 
in  Lundy's  Lane,  Niagara  Falls. 

On  my  return  home  from  Europe,  I  heard 
much  of  the  electrical  development  at  Niagara 
Falls,  and  going  there,  looked  over  the  prospects 
for  success  of  the  development,  prices  for  power, 
etc.  On  returning  to  Monongahela  City,  I  con- 
vened a  meeting  of  my  Board  of  Directors,  and 
laid  before  them  a  plan  of  moving  to  Niagara 
Falls,  and  there  build  and  equip  a  plant  for  one 
thousand  horse  power.  At  this  time  the  Mon- 
ongahela plant  used  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
four  horse  power,  and,  owing  to  the  high  price 
of  the  Carborundum  produced,  but  one-half  the 
production  was  sold.  In  view  of  this  condition 
of  the  plant  at  Monongahela  City,  my  Niagara 
Falls  scheme  was  too  much  for  the  conservative 
Directors,  and  they  resigned  and  left  the  room. 
Fortunately  for  the  future  of  Carborundum,  I 
was  in  control  of  its  destiny.  I  organized  a  new 

108 


board;  had  the  Company  authorize  the  issue  of 
seventy-five  thousand  dollars  worth  of  bonds; 
placed  the  money  I  had  brought  from  Europe 
(with  the  exception  of  twenty-six  thousand 
dollars  which  I  paid  to  Mr.  J.  S.  Huyler  for  his 
interests,  he  being  dissatisfied  with  my  policy) 
at  the  service  of  the  Company. 

Contracts  were  entered  into  with  the  Niagara 
Palls  Power  Company.  Substantial  brick  build- 
ings were  erected  and  provision  made  for  large 
development.  My  means  began  to  run  low, 
and  it  was  necessary  to  raise  more.  Times  were 
depressed,  all  business  being  at  a  standstill.  I 
made  a  great  struggle  to  sell  the  Company's 
bonds.  The  Company  had  no  funds  to  place 
the  necessary  machinery  in  the  new  buildings. 
Finally,  on  the  sixth  day  of  July,  1895,  I  sold 
to  Pittsburgh  Bankers,  whom  I  shall  hereafter 
designate  "A"  and  "B",  fifty  thousand  dollars 
of  the  bonds,  giving  them  as  a  bonus  twelve 
thousand,  five  hundred  dollars  of  the  Com- 
pany's capital  stock,  which  had  previously  been 
raised  to  two  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

The  Niagara  Falls  works  were  started  in  the 

109 


Fall  of  1895,  it  being  the  second  one  to  take 
power  from  the  Niagara  Falls  Power  Company, 
— the  Pittsburgh  Reduction  Company,  now  the 
Aluminum  Company  of  America,  being  the  first. 

The  emery  wheel  companies  would  not  buy 
the  Carborundum,  and  it  became  necessary  for 
me  to  devise  and  perfect  a  method  of  making 
wheels;  to  build  a  department  for  that  work, 
and  carry  a  stock  of  finished  wheels.  All  this 
required  time  and  much  money. 

In  order  to  be  nearer  my  work  at  Niagara 
Falls,  I  leased  the  premises  No.  41  Fargo  Ave- 
nue, Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  on  the  5th  day  of  August, 

1896,  and  moved  my  family  there  from  Monon- 
gahela  City.     My  family  now  consisted  of  my 
wife  and  seven  children;  George  Wilson,  John 
Huyler  and  Margaret  Irene  having  been  born 
March  2nd,  1892,  October  3ist,  1893,  and  June 
loth,  1896,  respectively. 

Under  the  patent  laws  of  Germany,  it  was 
necessary  for  me  to  work  my  patents  in  that 
country  early  in  1897.  I  entered  into  a  con- 
tract with  "A"  and  "B"  under  date  of  April  i3th, 

1897,  whereby  they  secured  a  one-half  interest  in 


no 


the  German  patent  in  consideration  of  fifty- 
five  hundred  dollars.  They  advanced  [the 
money  to  carry  out  the  working  and  put  the 
business  into  shape. 

I  now  entered  upon  the  most  trying  period 
of  my  checkered  career.  I  left  for  Germany, 
taking  with  me  my  old  friend,  James  C.  Hippie, 
to  assist  me  in  my  work. 

I  took  with  me  a  letter  of  credit  from  "A" 
and  "B"  for  twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  and, 
with  Hippie  to  assist  me,  operated  furnaces  and 
made  Carborundum  in  the  town  of  Dauben,  a 
few  miles  from  Dresden.  The  necessary  elec- 
tricity was  obtained  from  the  town's  electric 
lighting  station. 

In  Dauben  was  an  emery  wheel  firm  by  the 
name  of  George  Voss  &  Company,  and  I  closed 
a  contract  with  them  to  continue  operating  the 
small  plant  I  had  built,  and  to  purchase  from 
the  American  Company  about  twelve  thousand 
dollars  worth  of  Carborundum  goods,  as  a  stock 
for  the  German  trade. 

I  left  Hippie  there  and  returned  home,  hav- 
ing been  gone  about  three  months  and  expended 

in 


two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  of  the 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars  taken  over.  One 
half  of  my  expenditures  were  met  by  me,  the 
other  half  by  "A"  and  "B." 

The  last  department  of  manufacture  added 
to  the  Niagara  Falls  plant  was  made  after  my 
return  from  Europe.  It  was  the  manufacture 
of  Carborundum  paper  and  cloth.  I  had  had  a 
number  of  emery  paper  manufacturers  make 
some,  and  I  believed  it  would  be  a  valuable 
addition  to  our  Works.  To  raise  the  required 
fifty  thousand  dollars  for  this  department,  I 
gave  "A"  and  "B"  forty-six  thousand  dollars  of 
the  capital  stock  of  the  Company  as  a  bonus  for 
their  loaning  the  money  to  the  Company.  The 
capital  of  the  company  was  at  that  time  three 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  having  been  raised 
from  its  former  two  hundred  thousand  dollars 
for  the  purpose  of  buying  the  Canadian  patents 
from  me,  I  giving  to  "A"  and  "B"  three-fourths, 
— or  seventy-five  thousand  dollars  of  the  one 
hundred  thousand  dollar  purchase  price. 

"A"  and  "B"  were  now  in  control,  I  having 
given  them  as  bonuses  for  the  advancement  of 

112 


money  to  the  Company  forty-six  and  fifty-eight 
hundredths  per  cent,  of  its  total  capital  stock, 
to  which  they  added  by  purchase  from  other 
stockholders  enough  to  increase  their  holdings 
beyond  the  half.  Their  advancements  to  the 
Company  were  all  in  the  form  of  personal  notes 
at  six  per  cent. 

Shortly  after  they  obtained  control,  they  de- 
manded the  retirement  of  the  Secretary  and  the 
Treasurer,  Mr.  William  H.  Arison  and  Mr.  H. 
H.  Williams,  and  put  in  their  places  Mr.  F.  W. 
Haskell  and  Mr.  F.  H.  Manley. 

One  evening  in  August,  1898,  I  left  my  home 
on  Fargo  Avenue  to  take  the  eleven  o'clock  train 
for  Pittsburgh,  for  one  of  my  frequent  inter- 
views with  "A"  and  "B."  Within  five  hundred 
feet  of  my  house  door,  I  was  garotted  by  three 
men  and  knocked  insensible  by  being  struck 
twice  on  my  head.  I  recovered  quickly,  and 
found  I  had  been  robbed  of  my  watch  and  chain, 
further  depredations  being  prevented  by  the 
approach  of  persons  on  the  street. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  year,  I  was  taken 
seriously  ill,  due,  I  think,  to  the  many  trying 

"3 


circumstances  in  which  I  had  been  placed,  and 
the  knowledge  that  it  was  the  purpose  of  "A" 
and  "B"  to  remove  me  from  the  Presidency  of 
The  Carborundum  Company,  Mr.  Haskell  hav- 
ing already  been,  at  their  instigation,  placed  in 
practical  control.  I  was  confined  to  my  bed 
for  five  weeks,  my  mind  being  so  affected  that  I 
was  for  two  weeks  in  an  unconscious  condition. 

On  July  ist,  1901,  Mr.  F.  W.  Haskell  was 
made  President  of  The  Carborundum  Company, 
I  having  been  removed  by  "A"  and  "B"  from 
that  position.  The  business  of  the  Company 
was  then  on  a  fine  basis,  being  ready  to  enter 
upon  a  period  of  great  prosperity,  but  no  profits 
had  yet  been  made.  I  had  created  an  entirely 
new  industry,  worked  out  and  patented  the 
many  details  of  manufacture,  created  a  stock  to 
supply  demands  from  the  trade,  proved  the  value 
of  Carborundum  as  an  abrasive  and  established 
a  demand  for  the  same,  and  all  this  while  the 
country  was  passing  through  a  great  financial 
depression. 

On  January  ist,  1910,  the  Company  was 
using  ten  thousand  electrical  horse  power,  and 

114 


was  producing  Carborundum  at  the  rate  of  ten 
million  pounds  per  year,  the  capital  of  the  Com- 
pany having  been  increased  to  six  hundred 
thousand  dollars. 


CHAPTER  X 
GRAPHITE 

In  1895, 1  secured  a  United  States  Patent  for 
purifying  carbon.  In  1896,  I  obtained  a  United 
States  Patent  on  the  manufacture  of  graphite. 
On  the  iyth  day  of  January,  1899,  I  secured 
still  another  one  in  this  series  i.  e.,  on  the 
manufacture  of  graphite  articles. 

Realizing  that  I  was  completely  out  of  power 
in  The  Carborundum  Company,  and  knowing 
the  necessity  of  accomplishing  something  for 
my  family,  I  concluded  to  form  a  Graphite 
Company  to  operate  my  patents. 

I  told  "A"  and  "B"  of  my  purpose,  and  they 
immediately  demanded  forty  per  cent,  of  the 
stock  of  the  proposed  company  under  an  old 
agreement  made  between  them  and  myself  on 
July  1 6th,  1896,  whereby  it  was  proposed  to 
organize  a  Carbon  Company,  they  ("A"  and 
"B")  furnishing  the  capital.  This  was  never 
carried  out,  and  I  thought  all  parties  had  aban- 

116 


doned  their  claims  under  it,  "A"  and  "B"  not 
having  expended  one  cent.  I  objected  to  their 
claim  for  forty  per  cent,  but  nevertheless  it  was 
clear  to  me  that  if  I  did  not  pay  them  tribute 
under  that  old  contract,  I  might  have  difficulty 
in  securing  capital  for  my  proposed  enterprise. 
We  compromised  by  my  agreeing  to  present 
them  with  twenty-five  per  cent,  of  the  capital 
stock  of  my  new  company. 

I  proceeded  with  my  plans  and  organized 
the  Acheson  Graphite  Company,  with  one  million 
dollars  capitalization.  It  was  incorporated 
under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey  on 
January  26th,  1899.  I  sold  one  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  preferred  stock  of  the  Company, 
and  with  this  money  developed  the  business. 

The  Company  leased  suitable  ground  from 
the  Niagara  Falls  Power  Company,  and  con- 
tracted for  one  thousand  horse  power  of 
electricity. 

During  February  and  March,  1900,  I  filed 
applications  for  patents  on  Graphite  manufacture 
in  England,  France,  Belgium,  Germany,  Aus- 
tria, Italy,  Spain  and  Russia.  I  then  organized 

117 


a  company  under  the  title,  of  International 
Acheson  Graphite  Company  with  a  capitaliza- 
tion of  three  million  dollars  to  operate  these 
patents  in  Europe.  It  was  incorporated  under 
the  laws  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  March  i5th, 
1900. 

I  found  it  inconvenient  to  live  in  Buffalo  and 
spend  so  much  time  on  the  railway,  and  wished  to 
provide  my  family  with  a  permanent  home,  and 
having  an  opportunity  in  1900  to  buy  a  property 
of  twenty-one  acres  on  Lundy's  Lane,  Niagara 
Falls,  Ontario,  I  purchased  it.  To  provide  the 
money  to  purchase,  improve  and  furnish  it,  I 
sold  to  "A"  and  "B"  thirty-five  thousand  dol- 
lars worth  of  my  Carborundum  stock,  and  with 
the  proceeds,  which  amounted  to  thirty-five 
thousand  dollars,  I  settled  my  family  at  Lundy's 
Lane.  The  property,  home  and  contents  I  pre- 
sented to  my  wife. 

My  family  had,  while  living  in  Buffalo,  been 
further  increased  by  the  birth  of  our  daughter, 
Jean  Ellen,  on  November  i6th,  1898,  and 
Howard  Archibald  on  April  ist,  1900.  When  I 
moved  my  family  from  Buffalo  to  Lundy's  Lane, 

118 


we  numbered  eleven  all  told, — my  wife  and  I 
with  five  sons  and  four  daughters. 

The  graphite  articles,  as  made  by  the  Ache- 
son  Graphite  Company,  such  as  electrodes, 
plates  for  motor  and  dynamo  brushes,  bulk 
graphite  for  dry  batteries  and  paint  pigment, 
seemed  to  fill  at  once  a  much  needed  require- 
ment, and  the  business  of  the  Company  grew 
accordingly.  A  plant  was  built  and  equipped 
with  one  thousand  horse  power  of  electricity. 

Believing  that  it  would  be  to  the  best  inter- 
ests of  all  concerned  to  merge  the  two  Graphite 
Companies  under  the  title  and  with  the  capi- 
talization of  the  International  Company,  I 
called  the  necessary  meetings  to  act  on  it,  and  an 
agreement  was  executed  between  them  under 
date  of  May  ist,  1900. 

"A"  and  "B"  opposed  the  merger  and  went 
into  the  New  Jersey  Court  of  Chancery  on  June 
27th,  1900,  for  an  injunction  restraining  the 
Companies  from  merging.  I  retained  Mr.  J.  B. 
Dill  to  defend  the  Graphite  Company's  interests, 
and,  after  hearing  the  case,  Judge  Emery  handed 
down  a  decision  and  order  under  date  of  July 

119 


2oth,  1900,  granting  a  preliminary  injunction 
so  worded  as  to  indicate  that,  on  final  hearing, 
permission  to  complete  the  merger  might  be 
granted  by  the  Court. 

"A"  and  "B"  thereupon  approached  me  for 
a  compromise.  This  was  arrived  at  on  the  follow- 
ing basis.  I  agreed  to  have  issued  to  them  the 
amount  of  stock  due  them  under  the  merger  or 
one-twelfth  plus  one-half  the  difference  between 
the  twelfth  and  their  original  fourth  or  one-sixth, 
they  agreeing  to  convert  The  Carborundum  Com- 
pany's notes  held  by  them  into  twenty-year 
bonds,  doubling  the  capital  of  the  Company  to 
permit  of  so  large  an  issue,  the  new  stock  to  be 
issued  to  the  stockholders  pro  rata  with  their  hold- 
ings ;  to  have  The  Carborundum  Company  begin 
paying  dividends;  to  have  The  Carborundum 
Company  employ  me  as  Consulting  Engineer  for 
five  years  at  a  salary  of  five  thousand  dollars 
per  year.  These  conditions  being  mutually 
agreed  to,  the  merger  was  completed. 

My  health  was  very  bad  in  1902.  I  was 
worried  over  the  disconnected  state  of  my 
affairs.  I  then  was  possessed  of  about  twenty- 

120 


two  per  cent,  of  the  capital  stock  of  The  Car- 
borundum Company,  seventy-two  per  cent,  of 
the  International  Acheson  Graphite  Company, 
and  some  other  scattered  interests.  I  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  forming  an  incorporated  com- 
pany of  my  family,  and  dividing  its  stock 
amongst  my  wife  and  children,  and,  as  a  result, 
I  incorporated  on  January  5th,  1903,  under  the 
laws  of  New  Jersey,  The  Acheson  Company, 
with  authorized  capital  of  ten  thousand  dollars 
divided  into  one  hundred  shares.  Of  these  one 
hundred  shares  I  gave  to  my  wife  thirty-four, 
retaining  the  remainder  in  the  interests  of  my 
children.  To  The  Acheson  Company  I  trans- 
ferred all  my  holdings. 

Owing  to  severe  stomach  troubles  and  an 
operation  thereon,  I  was  entirely  unfit  to  attend 
to  business  from  the  early  Spring  of  1903  to  the 
Fall  of  1905,  and  was  absent  from  home  much 
of  this  period. 

I  again  assumed  the  responsibilities  of  my 
office,  which  was  that  of  President,  in  the  late 
Fall  of  1905.  I  practically  reorganized  the 
official  staff  and  management  of  the  Company 

121 


and  it  at  once  entered  upon  a  period  of  great 
prosperity. 

By  the  first  of  January,  1910,  the  Company's 
plant  was  using  five  thousand  electrical  horse 
power  in  its  furnaces  and  the  amount  of  graphite 
being  produced  was  at  the  rate  of  more  than  ten 
millions  of  pounds  per  year. 


122 


CHAPTER  XI 

EGYPTIANIZED  CLAY;  DIRECT  REDUCTION  OP 

ALUMINUM  AND  SILICON;  PRODUCTION  OF 

SILOXICON,  LUBRICATING   GRAPHITE, 

AQUADAG  AND  OILDAG 

Having  worked  out  the  process  of  manufac- 
turing practically  pure  graphite,  which  I  believed 
to  be  better  than  the  natural  products,  I  early 
in  1901  took  up  experiments  having  in  view 
the  use  of  my  graphite  in  the  making  of 
crucibles.  The  graphite  was  not  successful  as 
it  then  existed,  but  the  experiments  led  me  into 
a  study  of  clays,  that  had  rather  an  unlocked 
for  result.  I  discovered  that  when  a  clay  mod- 
erately weak  in  strength  and  plasticity  was 
treated  with  tannin,  extract  of  straw,  and  other 
plant  extracts,  it  was  increased  in  those  prop- 
erties. The  particles  of  the  clay  were  reduced 
so  fine  that  they  would  pass  through  a  fine  filter 
paper,  and  would  remain  permanently  suspended 
in  water.  I  believe  this  to  be  an  explanation 

123 


of  why  the  Egyptians  used  straw  in  making 
brick,  and  I  called  clay  so  treated  and  dried 
"Egyptianized  Clay." 

In  1900  I  became  interested  in  experiments 
having  in  view  the  reduction  of  various  metals 
directly  from  their  oxides,  and  on  December 
4th  and  2oth,  1900,  and  on  January  2oth,  1903, 
I  filed  applications  for  patents  pertaining  to  this 
line  of  work,  all  of  these  applications  resulting  in 
the  issue  of  patents.  Under  the  methods  therein 
set  forth,  I  could  produce  a  direct  reduction  of 
silicon  and  also  aluminum.  All  rights  pertain- 
ing to  silicon  under  these  patents,  I  sold  to  The 
Carborundum  Company  for  five  thousand  dol- 
lars, and  the  process  was  developed  and  con- 
siderably improved  by  Mr.  F.  J.  Tone,  and  has 
grown  to  quite  a  department  in  The  Carborun- 
dum Company.  The  process  for  the  direct 
reduction  of  aluminum,  as  set  forth  in  the  patents, 
avoids  the  necessity  of  resorting  to  the  electro- 
lytic methods  as  practised  under  the  Hall  and 
other  processes. 

In  the  late  Fall  of  1902,  I  made  application 
for  two  patents  which  were  issued  under  date 

124 


of  March  lyth,  1903,  one  of  them  being  for  a 
method  of  producing  compounds  containing 
silicon,  oxygen  and  carbon,  and  the  other  for  a 
refractory  material,  this  latter  product  having 
the  typical  formula  of  Si2C2O,  and  was  called  by 
me  Siloxicon,  a  word  coined  from  the  names  of 
the  three  elements  entering  into  its  composition. 

I  did  quite  a  great  deal  of  work  toward  the 
commercial  manufacture  of  Siloxicon,  but  owing 
to  the  poor  condition  of  my  health  during  the 
following  two  or  three  years,  my  thoughts  were 
carried  away  from  this,  and  on  again  taking  up 
a  line  of  experiments,  my  attention  was  irresist- 
ibly drawn  toward  the  production  of  lubricating 
products  of  graphite. 

In  1906  I  made  a  few  experiments  having  in 
view  the  possible  increasing  in  value  of  Carbor- 
undum as  an  abrasive.  The  experiments  were 
a  failure  for  the  purpose  I  had  in  mind,  but  I 
found  in  the  output  of  the  furnace  a  small 
amount  of  a  very  soft,  unctuous,  non-coalescing 
graphite  which  I  immediately  recognized  as  an 
ideal  lubricating  product. 

I  at  once  went  into  experiments  to  perfect 

125 


the  manufacture  of  this  graphite,  and  developed 
commercial  methods  of  producing  what  I  thought 
to  be  a  nearly  perfect  product.  Patents  were 
applied  for  and  under  date  of  November  2oth, 
1906,  one  was  issued  to  me  under  the  title 
"Production  of  Graphite."  This  I  assigned  to 
the  International  Acheson  Graphite  Company. 

The  Graphite  Company  is  now  placing  this 
graphite  mixed  with  grease  upon  the  market 
under  the  copyrighted  name  of  Gredag,  the 
word  being  formed  from  the  first  three  letters  of 
grease,  and  the  initial  letters  of  "disintegrated 
Acheson-Graphite. ' ' 

Late  in  the  Fall  of  1906,  the  thought  occurred 
to  me  to  apply  to  graphite  the  treatment  that 
I  had  applied  to  clay  and  see  if  I  could  not  make 
it  remain  suspended  in  water.  The  treatment 
proved  satisfactory,  the  graphite  being  reduced 
to  so  fine  a  state  of  subdivision  that  it  would 
readily  pass  through  a  fine  filter  paper  and 
remain  permanently  suspended  in  water.  I 
defined  the  treatment  as  "deflocculation"  and 
spoke  of  the  graphite  as  being  deflocculated. 
Experiments  showed  deflocculated  graphite  sus- 

126 


pended  in  water  formed  an  excellent  lubricant, 
and  it  further  had  the  remarkable  quality  of  pre- 
venting the  rusting  of  metal  which  had  been 
immersed  in  the  water  carrying  the  graphite. 
This  new  lubricant  consisting  of  deflocculated 
graphite  and  water,  I  called  Aquadag,  the  word 
being  formed  from  the  word  "aqua"  and 
the  initial  letters  of  "deflocculated  Acheson- 
Graphite."  In  the  following  Spring  I  succeeded 
in  transferring  the  deflocculated  graphite  from 
the  water  medium  to  an  oil  medium,  in  which  it 
also  remained  suspended,  and  this  I  called  Oil- 
dag.  Various  tests  of  a  severe  and  exhaustive 
nature  showed  Oildag  to  be  a  very  superior 
lubricant,  and  some  authorities  have  expressed 
the  opinion  that  it  would  extend  the  possible 
life  of  the  natural  petroleum  lubricating  oils 
four  times. 

Patents  were  taken  out  in  twenty-three 
countries,  (they  including  practically  the  indus- 
trial world)  on  the  various  processes  of  manu- 
facture and  the  products  produced  as  Aquadag 
and  Oildag,  and  I  also  trade  marked  the  words 
"Aquadag"  and  "Oildag"  in  those  countries. 

127 


Wishing  the  International  Acheson  Graphite 
Company  to  become  owners  of  these  new  inter- 
ests I  had  acquired,  I  concluded  to  sell  the 
patents,  trade  marks,  and  various  interests  to  it, 
and  the  necessary  meetings  of  the  directors  and 
stockholders  were  held  to  consider  and  act  upon 
the  advisability  of  an  increase  in  the  capitaliza- 
tion for  the  purchase  of  these  interests.  Fav- 
orable action  was  taken  and  the  Company 
accepted  my  offer  of  sale. 

Under  date  of  June  srd,  1907  "A"  and  "B," 
by  and  through  counsel,  appeared  in  the  Court 
of  Chancery  of  New  Jersey  and  brought  suit  to 
prevent  the  said  purchase  by  the  International 
Acheson  Graphite  Company  of  my  interests  in 
Aquadag  and  Oildag,  and  as  a  part  of  their  bill 
of  complaint,  they  stated  as  follows : 

"And  your  orators  show  and  charge  the  fact 
to  be  that  the  said  business  proposed  to  be  under- 
taken is  not  part  of  the  business  for  which  the 
said  corporation  (International  Acheson  Graphite 
Company)  was  organized,  and  that  to  engage  in 
it  is  to  embark  the  capital  of  said  Company  in  a 
new  and  distinct  enterprise  not  contemplated 

128 


upon  the  organization  of  the  said  Company; 
that  the  said  processes  claimed  to  be  covered 
by  the  said  letters  patent  are  new  and  untried 
and  have  never  been  used  with  commercial 
success;  that  they  are  experimental  and  unde- 
veloped and  at  the  present  stage  it  is  impossible 
to  tell  whether  or  not  they  can  be  made  com- 
mercially successful  or  whether  or  not  they 
infringe  upon  patented  processes." 

When  the  papers  were  served  upon  me  per- 
taining to  this  suit,  I  immediately  withdrew 
my  offer  of  sale  of  my  various  interests  relating 
to  Aquadag  and  Oildag  to  the  International 
Acheson  Graphite  Company,  and  under  date  of 
May  25th,  1908,  I  organized  and  incorporated 
the  Acheson  Oildag  Company  under  the  laws  of 
the  State  of  New  York,  and  to  this  Company 
I  assigned  all  my  rights  and  interests  pertaining 
to  Aquadag  and  Oildag. 

In  looking  back  over  my  life  work  and  re- 
sults produced,  I  believe  these  last  two  produc- 
tions, viz.,  Aquadag  and  Oildag,  will  prove  to  be 
of  more  value  to  the  world  than  any  of  the  pre- 
ceding products.  Much  yet  remains  to  do  in  the 

129 


way  of  perfecting  the  details  of  manufacture, 
company  organization  and  exploitation  of  the 
products,  but  the  indications  at  the  present 
time  (1910)  are  that  they  will  be  very  quickly 
appreciated  and  accepted  by  the  manufacturing 
and  industrial  world. 

After  having  solved  the  problems  pertain- 
ing to  deflocculation  of  graphite  and  other 
insoluble,  non -metallic,  non- fused,  inorganic 
amorphous  bodies,  I  found  that  the  addition  of 
an  electrolyte  to  the  solution,  such,  for  instance, 
as  acids  or  the  solution  of  ordinary  salt,  would 
cause  a  flocculation  of  the  suspended  matter 
and  sedimentation  would  occur,  and  I  then  real- 
ized that  in  Nature  we  had  cases  of  this  kind 
continuously  before  us;  for  example,  the  sus- 
pended matter  of  the  Missouri  and  Mississippi 
Rivers,  and  the  effect  of  salt  water  or  other 
electrolytes  in  causing  sedimentation  furnish 
a  very  satisfactory  explanation  of  the  for- 
mation of  the  deltas  and  bars  at  the  mouths  of 
the  rivers  where  they  enter  salt  water,  as,  for 
instance,  the  delta  of  the  Nile  and  the  bars  of 
the  Mississippi. 

130 


CHAPTER  XII 
SOCIETIES  AND  CLUBS 

Dr.  Acheson  is  affiliated  in  the  manner 
stated  with  the  following  societies,  organiza- 
tions and  clubs : 

Charter  Member  and  Past  President  of  the 
American  Electro -Chemical  Society;  Charter 
Member  and  Vice-President  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Chemical  Engineers;  Fellow  of  the 
American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science;  Member  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers;  Member  American  Chemical 
Society;  Member  American  Ceramic  Society; 
Member  National  Geographic  Society;  Member 
Franklin  Institute;  Member  Royal  Society  of 
Arts,  England;  Member  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
New  York  State;  Member  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, Buffalo;  Member  University  Club,  Wash- 
ington, D.  C. ;  Member  Chemists  Club,  New  York 
City;  Member  Buffalo  Club,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.; 


Member  Park  Club,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.;  Member 
Niagara  Club,  Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y. ;  Member 
Automobile  Club  of  America,  New  York  City. 


132 


CHAPTER  XIII 
PAPERS  WRITTEN  AND  READ 

Dr.  Acheson  has  read  the  following  papers 
before  the  various  named  Societies  at  the  dates 
given: 

Disruptive  Discharges  and  Their  Relations 
to  Underground  Cables,  before  the  National 
Electric  Light  Association,  August  29th,  1888. 

Lightning  Arresters  and  the  Photographic 
Study  of  Self-induction,  before  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  January  8th, 
1889. 

Carborundum;  Its  History,  Manufacture 
and  Uses,  before  the  Franklin  Institute,  June 
2ist,  1893. 

Graphite;  Its  Formation  and  Manufacture, 
before  the  Franklin  Institute,  March  i$th,  1899. 

Egyptianized  Clay;  before  the  American 
Ceramic  Society,  February,  1904. 

Discovery  and  Invention;  before  the  Mining 
Engineers'  Club,  Massachusetts  Institute  of 


Technology,  March  gth,  1906;  Sibley  College  of 
Mechanical  Engineering,  Cornell  University, 
May,  1906;  Schenectady  Branch  of  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  October  i2th, 
1906;  Lafayette  College,  October  i8th,  1906. 

Seventeen  Years  of  Experimental  Research 
and  Development,  before  the  American  Acad- 
emy of  Arts  and  Sciences,  April  8th,  1908. 

Deflocculation  of  Graphite,  before  the  Amer- 
ican Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  July  i  ith, 
1908;  American  Chemical  Society,  July  i2th, 
1908;  Syracuse  Branch  of  the  American  Chemi- 
cal Society,  October  i6th,  1908;  American 
Electro-Chemical  Society,  October  i;th,  1908; 
American  Mining  Congress,  November  i3th, 
1908. 

The  Electro-Chemist  and  the  Conservation 
of  our  Natural  Resources,  before  the  American 
Electro-Chemical  Society,  May  6th,  1909. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
HONORS  CONFERRED 

Many  honors  have  been  conferred  upon  Dr. 
Acheson,  prominent  among  them  being  the 
following : 

John  Scott  Medal  (Franklin  Institute)  1894, 
for  invention  of  Carborundum. 

Gold  Medal,  Trans-Mississippi  and  Inter- 
national Exposition,  Omaha,  Neb.,  1898,  for 
Artificial  Graphite. 

Grand  Prix,  Exposition  Universelle  Inter- 
nationale, Paris,  France,  1900,  for  Carborun- 
dum and  Artificial  Graphite. 

John  Scott  Medal  (Franklin  Institute)  1901, 
for  Artificial  Graphite. 

Gold  Medal,  Pan-American  Exposition,  Buf- 
falo, N.  Y.,  1901,  for  Artificial  Graphite. 

One  of  the  one  hundred  "Captains  of  Indus- 
try" who  breakfasted  with  H.  R.  H.  Prince 
Henry  of  Prussia  in  New  York  on  February  26, 
1902. 

135 


Grand  Prize,  Louisiana  Purchase  Exposi- 
tion, St.  Louis,  Mo.,  1904,  for  Carborundum  and 
Artificial  Graphite. 

Count  Rumford  Premium,  American  Acad- 
emy of  Arts  and  Sciences,  Boston,  Mass.,  1908, 
for  new  industrial  products  of  the  electric 
furnace. 

The  degree  of  Sc.  D.  was  conferred  upon 
Dr.  Acheson  by  the  University  of  Pittsburgh, 
Pa.,  February  i2th,  1909. 

The  Perkin  Medal  awarded  by  Perkin  Medal 
Committee,  January  aist,  1910. 


136 


CHAPTER  XV 
CONCLUSION 

In  reviewing  Dr.  Acheson's  life  as  related 
by  himself,  one  is  naturally  inclined  to  attempt 
an  analysis  of  the  qualifications  which  he  evi- 
dently possesses  and  which  have  enabled  him  to 
surmount  difficulties  and  accomplish  the  results 
attained.  One  cannot  fail  to  be  impressed  with 
the  number  of  times  he  converted  failures  into 
successes,  these  almost  invariably  being  the 
results  of  observing  very  small  effects  that  would 
ordinarily  escape  the  notice  of  an  experimenter. 
Another  characteristic  that  deserves  more  than 
passing  note  was  his  desire  to  tread  unknown 
paths,  as  shown  by  the  fact  of  his  having  entered 
entirely  new  fields  of  research,  fields  previously 
unexplored,  or  if  attempts  had  been  made  at 
exploration,  the  results  reported  were  rather  of 
a  kind  to  have  caused  one  to  avoid  them.  These 
points  were  well  brought  out  by  a  statement 
recently  made  by  a  gentleman  holding  a  very 

137 


eminent  position  in  the  electro-chemical  indus- 
tries of  the  United  States,  and  being  very  con- 
cise, we  repeat  it  herewith  in  his  words: 

"Dr.  Acheson  observed  the  transformation 
of  carborundum  at  high  temperatures  into 
graphite,  and  drew  from  this  and  similar 
observations,  conclusions  respecting  the  effect  of 
impurities  upon  amorphous  carbon,  whether 
normally  present  therein  or  derived  from  exter- 
nal sources,  in  determining  its  conversion  into 
graphite.  Based  upon  these  conclusions  and 
upon  a  long  experimental  study  of  the  trans- 
formation of  carbon  by  heat,  he  founded  a  new 
industry,  to  wit:  the  manufacture  from  such 
cheap  forms  of  carbon  as  petroleum  coke,  anthra- 
cite coal,  etc.,  of  practically  uniform  grades  of 
electric  furnace  graphite,  of  a  degree  of  purity 
adapted  to  their  intended  uses,  and  by  reason  of 
their  purity  and  uniformity,  far  superior  to  the 
crude,  impure  and  variable  natural  product. 
He  developed  also  electric  furnace  methods 
which  have  rendered  possible  the  transforma- 
tion of  vast  quantities  of  carbon  into  graphite, 
thereby  commercializing  the  industry.  He  also 

138 


developed  the  present  industrial  methods  for 
the  graphitization  of  electrodes  and  other  shaped 
bodies  of  carbon,  and  these  electrodes,  by  reason 
of  their  homogeneous  character  and  freedom 
from  impurities  and  extraneous  bonding  agents 
have,  in  many  applications,  completely  sup- 
planted the  crude  and  unsatisfactory  baked 
carbon  electrodes  upon  which  the  art  of  electro- 
chemistry, in  its  infancy,  was  forced  to  rely. 
It  has  often  been  stated  that  electro-chemistry, 
supplanting  the  wasteful  chemical  and  metal- 
lurgical methods  of  the  past  and  present,  is 
destined  to  become  the  predominant  agent  in 
the  conservation  of  the  resources  of  the 
world;  and  it  may  safely  be  asserted  that 
electro-chemistry  owes  its  astounding  modern 
growth,  first  to  the  development  of  the  dynamo, 
and  second  to  the  production  of  Acheson- 
Graphite  Electrodes.  For  the  development  of 
the  great  industry  of  electrolytic  caustic  and 
bleach,  for  example,  their  use  has  been  indispen- 
sable. Dr.  Acheson  was  pre-eminently  and 
absolutely  a  pioneer  in  the  graphite  art.  He 
was  not  a  mere  improver  upon  an  existing  art, 


but  he  made  a  great  invention,  discovered  a  new 
art,  never  known  before  and  blazed  the  way  as  a 
pathfinder  for  future  generations." 

This  characteristic  of  searching  out  new  and 
untrodden  paths  is  again  illustrated  in  a  very 
forcible  manner  by  his  work  on  the  defloccula 
tion  of  graphite  and  other  amorphous  bodies 
and  the  application  of  deflocculated  graphite  to 
the  problem  of  lubrication.  Lubrication  is  one 
of  the  most  important  problems  with  which  man 
has  to  contend,  entering  as  it  does  into  every 
phase  of  civilized  life.  The  manufacturing  and 
handling  of  lubricants  has  been  the  basis  of 
some  of  the  largest  and  most  powerful  organiza- 
tions of  modern  times,  and  it  has  received  the 
attention  of  our  leaders  in  scientific  thought. 

In  the  judgment  of  those  competent  of  form- 
ing opinions  for  the  world,  who  have  investi- 
gated Dr.  Acheson's  products  known  as  Aquadag 
and  Oildag,  he  has  in  these  materials,  to  a  large 
extent,  solved  the  problem  of  lubrication  for 
future  generations.  In  an  address  by  Dr. 
Charles  F.  Mabery  delivered  by  special  request 
before  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical 

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Engineers  at  their  January  meeting  of  1910,  he 
presented  the  results  of  very  exhaustive  and 
prolonged  tests  that  he  had  made  to  determine 
the  efficiency  of  Aquadag  and  Oildag  for  gen- 
eral lubrication,  and  in  this  address  he  stated: 

"Deflocculated  graphite  has  peculiar  prop- 
erties; it  remains  suspended  indefinitely  in 
water,  but  is  quickly  precipitated  by  impurities. 
On  account  of  its  extreme  subdivision  a  very 
small  amount  suspended  in  water  serves  for 
efficient  lubrication.  From  numerous  and  long- 
continued  trials  it  appears  that  thirty-five  one 
hundredths  per  cent,  serves  an  adequate  purpose 
and  that  a  larger  proportion  is  superfluous.  It 
is  certainly  remarkable  that  such  a  small  quan- 
tity of  graphite  is  readily  distributed  by  water 
between  a  journal  and  bearing  while  sustaining 
a  load  of  seventy  pounds  per  square  inch  of 
bearing  surface,  and  that  under  high-speed 
conditions  it  maintains  an  extremely  low 
co-efficient  of  friction." 

And  in  conclusion,  he  said: 

"The  results  presented  in  this  paper,  with 
reference  to  the  uses  of  graphite  as  a  solid  lub- 

141 


ricant,  indicate  that  in  the  deflocculated  form 
it  can  readily  be  applied  with  great  economic 
efficiency  in  all  forms  of  mechanical  work.  One 
of  the  most  characteristic  effects  is  that  of  a 
surface-evener,  by  forming  a  veneer,  equalizing 
the  metallic  depressions  and  projections  on  the 
surfaces  of  journal  and  bearing;  and  being 
endowed  with  a  certain  freedom  of  motion  under 
pressure,  it  affords  the  most  perfect  lubrication. 
In  automobile  lubrication  the  great  efficiency 
of  graphite,  in  increasing  engine  power,  in  con- 
trolling temperatures,  and  in  decreasing  wear 
and  tear  on  bearings,  has  been  brought  out  in  a 
series  of  tests  conducted  by  the  Automobile 
Club  of  America.  In  connection  with  the  reduc- 
tion in  friction  of  lubricating  oils  by  graphite 
the  extremely  small  proportion  necessary  is 
worthy  of  note;  the  proportion  used  in  this  work 
is  equivalent  to  one  cubic  inch  of  graphite  in 
three  gallons  of  oil.  The  curve  of  temperature 
for  Aquadag,  an  increase  but  slightly  above  that 
of  the  surrounding  atmosphere,  demonstrates 
an  important  economic  quality  of  controlling 
temperatures  in  factory  lubrication,  thereby 

142 


avoiding  the  danger  of  highly  heated  bearings, 
which  are  frequently  the  cause  of  fires. 

"In  the  observations  described  in  this  paper, 
and  in  fact  in  all  the  work  that  has  been  done 
in  this  field,  there  is  not  a  more  impressive 
example  of  the  efficiency  of  graphite  in  lubrication 
than  that  presented  in  the  curves  of  friction  and 
temperature  of  water  and  graphite;  for  water 
serving  merely  as  a  vehicle  and  completely 
devoid  of  lubricating  quality,  the  graphite  is 
permitted  to  perform  its  work  without  aid  and 
with  no  limiting  conditions.1' 


143 


